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LIBRARY OF 60NGRESsl 

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



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ILLUSTRATED. 



SAN AiNTONIO 



ENVIRONS 



By GEO. P. GOFF, ^. 1^., 

Author of " Nick Baba' s Last Drink." and other Sketches. 



ILLUSTRATED 






' DEC lA 



LANCASTER. PA. : '^ 

INQUIRER PRINTING AND PUBLISHING CO., 
1881. 




Entered according to act of Congress, in the year i8So, by 

GEO. P. GOFF, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, Washington, D. C. 






TO MY FRIEND 

CHARLES W. HOFFMAN, LL. D., 

THIS VOLUME IS INSCRIBED, 

AS A MARK OF ESTEEM AND RESPECT 

BY ONE WHO KNOWS 

AND VALUES HIS 

FRIENDSHIP. 











T. 



W IV' 






CHAPTER I. 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 

" Land of the prairies, hail ! 
Of birds and music, of flowers and beauty, 
Of loveliness and hope, — Peace be thy lot, 
Joy thine inheritance, and Holiness thy praise." 

j^"^' HE City of San Antonio, Bexar county, 
Texas, was at one time the capital of the 
Mexican province of Coahuila and Texas, 
and was settled by Spaniards about the 
year 1730. It is one of the principal cities in the 
State. 

Although a frontier town, and presumably, on 
that account, containing a rcugh element, it is 
noted for its obedience to law and order. It pos- 
sesses as much wealth, refinement, and good 
society, in proportion to its population, as any 
city in the Union. 

It is situated in the western part of Texas, on 
(9) 



lO SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 

both sides of the beautiful San Antonio river, in a 
charming and healthful valley, six hundred and 
fifty feet above the level of the sea, and lies in the 
midst of a gently undulating region of country. 

It is two hundred and fifty miles from the nearest 
port on the Gulf of Mexico, and one hundred and 
fifty from the Mexican border. 

The population is about twenty thousand, and is 
rapidly increasing. 

On account of its mild and genial atmosphere, 
the town is fast becoming a winter resort for trav- 
elers, especially consumptives. The balmy air, laden 
with half-tropical perfumes, the bright sunshine 
and the brilliant verdure, all seem to inspire the 
sojourner with new life. The highways are brilliant 
with wild flowers of every hue, in the greatest pro- 
fusion, and intermingled in such harmony as only 
nature /can produce. The climate during a part 
of the year is very fine, and has been compared, 
by travelers and writers, to that of Italy. 

It cannot be better described than by the 
following lines : 

"Whatever fruits in different climes were found, 
That proudly vie, or humbly court the grountl ; 
Whatever blooms in torrid tracts appear. 
Whose bright succession decks the varied year; 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. I I 

Whatever sweets salute the Northern sky, 
With vernal tints that blossom but to die ; 
These, here disporting, own the kindred soil, 
Nor ask luxuriance from the planter's toil ; 
While sea-born gales their gelid wings expand, 
To winnow fragrance round the smiling land." 

This quaint old Spanish town, with its contracted 
streets and its ancient adobe houses projecting 
their roofs over narrow sidewalks, is built on the 
river, which takes its rise from springs of the same 
name, about four miles above the town, where the 
whole stream seems to break loose — bursting up 
in one great flood and sparkling on toward the 
city, through which it flows in a constant current 
of pure, clear, transparent, blue-tinted water. The 
stream receives in its course, below the city, the 
Medina, unites with the Guadalupe near the Gulf 
of Mexico, and is finally lost in the waters of 
Espiritu Santo Bay. 

This shining river is very tortuous, and has been 
aptly described as being everywhere. It winds its 
way, silent and rapid, over gravelly beds ; gliding 
through the city between mossy banks glowing 
with flowers and foliage. One never tires of 
watching it as it disappears under bridges, or is 
lost in the many turns in its course. It is eighty 



12 S.-VN ANTOXIO AND ENVIRONS. 

feet wide, seldom rises or falls, and is of a most 
delightful temperature. 

The town at its settlement was so laid out that 
many of the dwellings, and even the stores, have 
gardens extending down to the river. Some of the 
inhabitants have taken advantage of this and im- 
provised a sort of bath-house formed of light frame- 
\vork, covered with cotton cloth, the whole resting 
on a float, made of two large casks caulked and made 
water tight. Nothing can exceed the picturesque 
appearance of these floating baths as they sway and 
bob in the rapid running stream, their pure white 
coverings contrasting so charmingly Avith the 
green sloping banks of the river, and the waving, 
luxuriant semi-tropical vegetation. 

The San Pedro Springs are about one mile from 
the Alamo Plaza, where a very pretty park has 
been laid out, and made more lovely by collecting 
the water from the springs into a series of small 
lakes, bordered with shady walks and crossed by 
rustic bridges. This park is the resort of the 
people for recreation, contains some native animals, 
many curiosities, and a restaurant. 

San Antonio presents to the observant traveler 
the aspect of a staid ancient city being slo\vly but 
surely crowded out of existence by the irresistible 
and ceaseless march of progress. 



14 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 

A new people have rushed in, and the thin- 
blooded native shrinks aside for the new-comer, 
basks in the sun, and beholds, in amazement, the 
rising palace, towering far above his low, flat- 
roofed adobe or stone hovel, and sees also, the 
modern business structures push from their places 
the one-story, half-battlemented, loop-holed dwell- 
ings of a long past period. He draws his once 
rich and bright, but now faded poncho about his 
stooped shoulders, and slinks away, breathing a 
curse, and a sigh for the past, when he sat unmo- 
lested, in plenitude of idleness and sunshine, free 
from the bustling ways and strange habits of the 
intruder. 

This odd old place is truly cosmopolitan in its 
mixture of races, costumes, languages, architecture, 
and religion ; an aggressive promoter of new ideas, 
and a silent, fading witness of the past — linking an- 
tiquity to the car of modern progress. 

Here one may hear a confusion of tongues — a 
melange of nationalities — Americans, Irish, Eng- 
lish, Germans, Poles, Jews, French, Swiss, Mexi- 
cans, Spaniards, Italians, Indians, and Negroes. 

The extremes of wealth and poverty may also 
be observed, with every intermediate grade — the 
beggar, mounted on a forlorn-looking mule or ass, 



1 6 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 

seeking alms in a princely sort of way; the boot- 
black, smiling and happy in his rags and independ- 
ence, CGntente?nent sans richesse, with the imple- 
ments of his trade slung over his shoulder, and the 
persistent business-like '■^ Shine 'cm up;'' the fash- 
ionably dressed lady ; the meek-looking, scantily- 
clad Mexican woman ; the aristocratic caballero, 
mounted on a mustang and wearing a rich Spanish 
costume, composed of a broad-leafed hat decorated 
with solid silver ornaments, short buckskin vest 
with sleeves open to the elbow, and fastened with 
silver buttons ; pantaloons of skin or cloth, also 
trimmed with silver buttons, and bordered with 
wide bands of velvet, open to the hips, but but- 
toned from the knee upward, and a rich sash of blue 
or red silk, fringed ; the serious-looking business 
man ; the gentleman without apparent occupation ; 
the saucy-looking market boy serving his customers 
from a low, two-wheeled cart, drawn by a brisk 
donkey not much larger than a full-grown New- 
foundland dog : the Mexican hay-vender, mounted 
on the same style of donkey, minus the cart, and 
completely covered with his own merchandise ; 
trains of ox-teams hauling strong but rudely con- 
structed two-wheeled carts, covered with canvas, 
and drawn by as many as twenty yoke of oxen, 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 



17 



with the yoke not upon the neck, but lashed to the 
horns of the animals ; shop windows gaudy with a 
mixed display of Yankee notions, Mexican needle- 
work, earthenware, wax figures and leopard skins; 
and the female bird -trappers, or Pagarias, their 
cages filled with a collection of both gay and sober 
plumaged birds, waiting for a customer, with their 
patient, expectant faces half concealed in the folds 
of a well-worn shawl, drawn about the face in the 
manner of a hood. A fitting accompaniment to 
this human medley is the '' Hackal," the home of 
indigent Mexicans and half-breeds. 

This place of residence is like nothing else of all 
the known habitations of mankind, and is very 
little better than the abodes of the cave-dwellers. 
To the uninitiated it seems an impossible structure, 
and yet it is there. 

Commencing with a hard-packed dirt floor, it 
rises a composite of sticks, old tin roof, sail cloth, 
broken stove-pipe, boards and poles, the whole 
roofed in with dried prairie grass, matted together 
and kept in its place by weights. Here the in- 
mates dwell in listless idleness and hopeless pov- 
erty, with the usual quantity of dogs and children, 
living to-day on what they got yesterday, and hop- 
ing to have to-morrow the same as they had to- 
day — heavily seasoned with red pepper. 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. I9 

The history of San Antonio has been an event- 
ful one, and runs far back into the past. While 
Mexico yeti belonged to Spain, the Marquis de 
Casa Fuerte explored and surveyed in the immedi- 
ate vicinity of the present city, and, on account 
of the exceeding richness of the soil, the temperate 
climate, and the ease of irrigation, recommended 
it to the King of Spain as a most desirable place 
for a settlement, and, in 1693, advised the Spanish 
monarch to send settlers to found a city at or near 
the place of his surveys. It was not, however, until 
1730 that any emigrants arrived, when thirteen 
families, and one single man, natives of the Canary 
Islands, came by way of Monterey. These way- 
farers were of pure Castilian blood, of wealth and 
distinction. Their names, Rodriguez, Yturri, 
Garza, Navarro, Flores, and Garcia, are perpet- 
uated in the neighborhood of San Antonio, by 
existing families descended from each. 

They built on what is now known as the Military 
Plaza, and named it Plaza de las Islas, in honor 
of the Canary Islands, the home they had left. 

This settlement was called San Antonio de 
Bexar, in honor of the Duke of Bexar, Viceroy of 
Mexico at the time the town was laid off, 17 16, 
while the town on the east side of the venerable 
cathedral was known as San Fernando. 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 2 1 

San Antonio has been the scene of many bloody 
conflicts; the banners of freedom and oppression, 
each borne aloft to the battle's front by their 
respective champions, have mingled in sanguinary 
strife ; both have at times been trailed in the dust 
and bathed in the blood of the contestants ; out of 
this chaos of crimson slaughter has arisen the 
inspiriting device of universal freedom, and the 
banner of tyranny has been banished beyond the 
Rio Grande. 

A writer, in speaking of San Antonio, says: 

" Every stone of this beautiful city has been consecrated 
with the blood of a patriot, San Antonio has for a century 
been the battle-ground of human liberty. Its fortified places 
have been taken and retaken, and retaken again; while the 
Alamo still stands the monument of a battle greater than 
Thermopylae ; for, while one Greek lived to tell the story of 
heroic defence, not one Texan ever opened his lips to relate 
how his fellows died." 

In 1785 the Comanche Indians, who were 
always troublesome, gathered in numbers and 
attacked the town, driving the soldiers within the 
walls of the mission, and capturing the place. 

The taking of San Antonio by the Texans, 1835, 
is thus graphically described by Yokum : 

"On the morning of the 3d of December, 1835, Messrs. 



22 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 

Smith, Holmes, and Maverick, who had been detained under 
surveillance in Bexar since the affair at Gonzales, made their 
escape, and reached the Texan camp. From information 
given by them as to the strength of the place, a call was 
made for volunteers to attack it at four o'clock the next 
morning. 

" The plan of assault proposed that three hundred volun- 
teers should be led into the town in three divisions: the first, 
under Col. Jack, to take and occupy the house of Jose Angel 
Navarro; the second, under Lieutenant Sommerville, to take 
and occupy the house of Antonio de la Garza ; and the third, 
under Major Morris, to take and occupy the house of Vera- 
mendi. Deaf Smith, John H. Smith, and Hendrick Arnold, 
were to act as guides to the respective divisions. During that 
day and night all was preparation and impatience for the 
hour to march. 

" A serious conference was in session in General Burleson's 
quarters, which closed by a proclamation that the descent on 
the town was postponed. The burst of disappointment and 
indignation can be better imagined than described. A gen- 
eral parade was ordered for ten o'clock on the morning of 
the 4th. Many of the companies refused to turn out. The 
causes assigned for postponing the attack, were the absence 
of Arnold, one of the guides, together with an opinion that 
the besieged had received notice of the intended assault. 

"About two o'clock in the afternoon of the 4th of Decem- 
ber, an order was issued to raise the siege, and to set out for 
La Bahia at seven o'clock that evening. ' It was then,' says 
an eye witness, * that the scene was indescribable, and serious 
apprehensions were entertained that our camp would be the 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 23 

theatre of blood.' But, in the meantime, Arnold, the absent 
guide, had returned; and Lieutenant Vuavis, of the Mexican 
army, who had deserted the night before, came up. The 
latter was conducted forthwith to headquarters, and under- 
went a strict examination. He stated that the garrison was 
in a tumult, and much dissatisfied ; and, further, that the 
enemy had no suspicion of the intended descent that morn- 
ing. He also stated that the strength of the place had been 
exaggerated. 

"On receipt of this information, late in the evening of the 
4th, Colonel Benjamin R. Milam, at the suggestion of some 
pex-sons, cried aloud : ' PF/io will go with old Ben Milam 
into San Antonio ? ' The reply was a shout from the offi- 
cers and men then assembled around the quarters of General 
Burleson. They were ordered to fall into line, and, after a 
partial organization, Milam was promptly elected to the 
command, and notified the men to meet him, early after 
dark, at the old mill, there to complete their arrange- 
ments. 

"All this transpired in the presence of General Burleson, 
and with his approbation. 

" They met at the old mill, and formed the attacking 
party in two divisions : the first under the immediate com- 
mand of Colonel Milam, assisted by Colonel Midland Franks 
of the artillery, and Major R. C. Morris of the Grays, with 
Messrs. Maverick, Cooke, and Arnold as guides ; the second, 
under the command of Colonel Frank W. Johnson, assisted 
by Colonels James Grant and William T. Austin, with Deaf 
Smith and John W. Smith as guides. General Burleson 
was waited on, and requested to hold his position till the 



EXPLANATIONS. 



A. Old Mill. 

B. House of Veramendi. 

C. House of de la Garza. 

D. Main Plaza. 

E. Military Plaza 

F. Powder House, 



G. Reboubt 
H, Quinla. 
I. Priest's House. 
J. Antonio Navarro I 
K. Zambrano Kow. 



F f^artia. 




SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 25 

result of the attack on the town was known, which he cheer- 
fully agreed to do. Colonel J. C. Neill was directed to 
make a feint on the Alamo, to divert the enemy's attention 
while Milam was marching into the place. 

" There were three hundred and one men that made the 
descent, composed mostly of parts of the companies of Cap- 
tains York, Patton, Dickinson, English, and Ward, in the 
first division, under Milam, and of the companies of Cook, 
Breese, Peacock, Swisher, and Edwards, in the second 
division, under Johnson. 

" On the morning of the 5th of December, about twenty 
minutes before daylight, the assault was made on the town. 

" Colonel Neill, making an earlier start, had crossed the 
river, descended toward the Alamo, and opened a fire upon it, 
completely diverting the enemy's attention. This he con- 
tinued until he heard the report of the guns in the town, 
when he withdrew to the camp. The division of Milam 
marched in a direction a little south of west to the entrance 
of Aceqtiia street, so named from the ditch running on the 
west side ; while, at the same time, that of Johnson advanced 
to the entrance of Soledad street. These two streets from their 
entrance run south for a thousand varias to the main plaza — 
he first entering the square on the northwest, and the other on 
the northeast corner. At these points of entrance into the 
square the enemy had erected breastworks and batteries, so as 
to command them. Milam's division took possession of the 
house of De la Garza, and Johnson that of Veramendi, 

" These houses were nearly opposite, on the east side of 
each of the two streets, and about a hundred yards from the 
main square. 



26 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 

" In approaching the Veramendi house a sentinel fired 
upon the column, which was returned with efitect by Deaf 
Smith. This aroused the Mexicans in the town. The fire 
from the town and the Alamo soon became tremendous. The 
Texans had taken with them two pieces of artillery, a twelve 
and a six pounder. The former was dismounted, and, for 
want of a cover for the other piece, it was but little used. 

" So well-directed was the enemy's fire, that, for a time, 
the Texans could not cover their lines, or keep up a safe 
communication between the two divisions. They relied, 
however, upon their rifles, with which they slackened the 
enemy's fire, and silenced the artillery within range of their 
pieces. During the 5th, the Texans had one killed, and two 
colonels, one lieutenant-colonel, and twelve privates 
wounded ; these were sent back to the camp, 

" The night of the 5th was occupied by the Texans in 
strengthening their works, and opening a communication be- 
tween the two divisions. The enemy kept up a constant fire 
during the night, which slackened somewhat toward day- 
light. They were also engaged in placing armed men on 
the tops of the surrounding houses, and in strengthening their 
defences. The Texans at length succeeded in opening a 
safe communication between their two divisions. This they 
did under a raking fire from the enemy's battery at the en- 
trance of Soledad street. 

" At daylight, on the 5th of December, the enemy were 
discovered to have occupied the tops of the houses between 
the Texans and the plaza, and to have cut loop-holes in the 
parapet-walls crowning the buildings. From these points 
they opened and kept up through the day a brisk fire of 



FAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 27 

small arms ; at the same time a steady fire of artillery was 
maintained from the town and the Alamo. The greatest 
danger to the Texans was in passing from one house to an- 
other. A detachment of Captain Crane's company, under 
Lieutenant William McDonald, with others, advanced under 
a severe fire and took possession of the house to the right and 
somewhat in advance of the Garza house. This extended 
the Texan line westward, and toward the military plaza. At 
the same time, the assailants were strengthening their works, 
and returning the fire of the enemy. They also succeeded in 
mounting their cannon, with which they did some execu- 
tion. 

"The communication between the two divisions of the 
assailants was strengthened. 

" During this, the second day of the attack, the Texans 
had five wounded. The night of the 6th was occupied by 
the enemy in keeping up a languishing fire, in opening a 
trench on the Alamo side of the river, and in strengthening 
their batteries on Main street, leading from the plaza to the 
Alamo. The Texans were engaged in strengthening their 
lines. 

" On the morning of the 7th, the enemy opened a brisk 
fire from the trench constructed the night before, also of ar- 
tillery and small arms from other positions. By eleven 
o'clock that day, the deadly fire of the Texan rifles had 
silenced that from the trench, and also from some of the 
Mexican artillery. The only house between the Garza house 
and the buildings on the plaza was about midway, but back 
from the street. About noon, the gallant Karnes advanced 
with a crowbar, under a heavy fire from the enemy, and 



28 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 

forced an entrance. Captain York's company followed, and 
held the position. 

"In the evening the fire of the Mexicans became active 
from all their works. Colonel Milam, in passing from his 
position to that of Johnson at the Veramendi house, was in- 
stantly killed by a rifle-shot in the head. He fell just as he 
entered the yard, and was buried where he fell. In his 
death, Texas lost a commander and a soldier whose place 
could not be easily supplied. The Texans, however, felt a 
new incentive to avenge his death. They immediately set 
on foot a party to take possession of the house of Antonio 
Navarro, situated on the north side of Main street, one block 
west of the main plaza, but commanding a portion of the 
military plaza, and the Mexican redoubt on the second block 
west of the main square. The party consisted of portions 
of the companies of Captains Llewellyn, English, Crane, and 
York. They advanced from the house taken by Karnes, and 
forced an entrance. The enemy endeavored to retake it by 
firing through loop-holes made in the roof, but the Texans 
returned the fire through the same loop-holes, and drove 
them off. 

" Immediately north of and adjoining the Navarro house, 
fronting on Flores street, stood a row of buildings known as 
the ' Zambrano Row.' The taking of these buildings was 
part of the work of the 8th of December. The morning v/as 
cold and wet, and but little was done. 

"About nine o'clock, however, the same party who had 
taken the Navarro house, being reinforced by tlie Grays, 
commenced the attack. The row consisted of a series of 
rooms, separated by thick partition walls. These walls were 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 29 

pierced, and thus the Texans advanced from room to 
room. 

" The enemy disputed every inch of the ground, and kept 
up a tremendous fire of artillery during the day. At last, 
however, they were forced to abandon the row. During this 
time, a small reinforcement, under Lieutenant Gill, came in 
from the camp of General Burleson. The Mexicans, in 
order to produce a diversion, sent out a party of about fifty 
men from the Alamo toward the Texan camp, but they were 
quickly driven back by the fire of a six-pounder. 

" After dark, on the 8th, the occupants of the Zambrano 
row were reinforced by the companies of Captains Swisher, 
Alley, Edwards, and Duncan. Thus the Texans had, in 
fact, the command of the northwest portion of the enemy's 
main defences. 

" On the night of the 8th a further advance was made, 
on the north side, and opposite the centre of the main plaza, 
stood a strong building, known as the ' Priests' House.' It 
commanded the plaza, and its capture was considered the 
crowning work of the assault. Just before midnight, a party 
of about a hundred men, destined to attack this place, set 
out from the Garza house. In passing an out-building con- 
nected with the wall around the yard of the priests' house, 
they were exposed to a heavy fire from the Mexicans occu- 
pying that out-building; but by a rapid movement the assail- 
ants reached the wall, broke it down, drove the enemy from 
his position, entered the priests' house, secured and strength- 
ened the doors and windows, and commenced cutting loop- 
holes. 

'• The fire of the enemy had by this time become general, 



30 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 

and was kept up with artillery and small arms until nearly 
daylight. Finding the Texans unpleasantly near them, they 
did not wait for daybreak to see the effect of their rifles 
from the loop-holes in the priests' house upon the main 
plaza, but retreated to the Alamo. At half past six o'clock 
on the morning of the 9th, General Cos sent in a flag of 
truce, expressing a wish to capitulate. 

" General Burleson, having received notice of the flag, 
proceeded to the town, and by two o'clock, on the morning 
of the LOth, the articles of capitulation were concluded. 

"Cos and his officers were permitted to retire with their 
arms and private property, upon their word of honor that 
they would not in any way oppose the re-establishment of 
the constitution of 1824; the Mexican convict soldiers were 
to be taken beyond the Rio Grande; all public property 
belonged to the victors ; such of the troops as wished to 
remain or leave the Mexican army, had the liberty of doing 
so. Commissioners were appointed to carry the articles 
into effect. 

<* It is proper to state here that during the attack, notwiih- 
standing General Burleson had out a constant patrol, Ugar- 
tachea made his way into San Antonio uith five hundred 
convicts, guarded by a hundred regular infantry. This force, 
added to the eight hundred previously there, made an ag- 
gregate of fourteen hundred. The number of the enemy 
killed has been variously estimated — it probably did not ex- 
ceed a hundred and fifty. The Texan loss was trifling, 
though they had several wounded. 

" Among the occurrences of the assault, it may be stated 
that on the same evening of the death of Milam, the officers 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 3 1 

assembled and conferred the command on Colonel Frank 
W. Johnson, who had the high honor of raising the flag of 
victory over the walls of Bexar. 

" The reinforcement of convicts brought in by Ugartachea 
were conducted in chains, and their fetters were only taken 
off when they were introduced within the lines. Such men 
added nothing to the Mexican strength, but served only to 
hasten the consumption of the scanty provisions of the be- 
seiged. 

" After the occupation of the priests' house by the Texans, 
the town was fairly in their possession. They were in a 
position, as soon as daylight appeared, to clear every battery 
on the plaza. The terms of the capitulation were, then, hu- 
mane. It is true the enemy could have held out for some 
time in the Alamo, but they had no provisions. The Texans 
agreed to furnish them with a supply at a fair price, and 
their sick and wounded were permitted to remain behind, 
and were duly cared for. Thus the humanity following the 
victory was more glorious than the victory itself, and was a 
noble lesson of moderation in the hour of triumph, which the 
enemy failed to learn. Twenty-one pieces of artillery, five 
hundred muskets, together with ammunition, clothing, etc., 
fell into the hands of the victors. 

" On the 14th, General Cos left the town with eleven hun- 
dred and five troops, the remainder having abandoned his 
flag. He encamped that night at the mission of San Jose. 

" The next day he set out for the Rio Grande, to report to 
Santa Anna, his distinguished relative and superior, the re- 
bellious character of the Texans, and their obstinacy in battle. 

•' General Burleson, who, although opposed to the attack 



32 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 

when it was begun, did all he could to contribute to its suc- 
cess, on the 15th retired to his home, leaving Colonel John- 
son in command of the Alamo, with a sufficient force to 
maintain it. The remainder of the army dispersed. Thus 
was Texas again free from the footsteps of the enemy." 

The following is from the Pittsburgh Gazette : 
" To Colonel Benjamin R. Milam belongs, as commander, 
the deathless renown of that heroic exploit. For six succes- 
sive nights did he unceasingly grapple with the enemy; his 
own life was the price of his triumph, and he was destined, 
like Wolfe and Pike, to sleep the sleep of death in the arms 
of victory. As long as unimpeached integrity, uncompro- 
mising patriotism, and undaunted valor, are esteemed among 
mankind, so long will his name be fresh and sacred in the 
memory of every friend of virtue and freedom." 

" Oft shall the soldier think of thee, 
Thou dauntless leader of the brave, 
Who on the heights of tyranny 
Won freedom, and a glorious grave. 
And on thy tomb shall pilgrims we-ep, 
And pray to heaven in murmurs low, 
That peaceful be the hero's sleep 
Who conquered San Antonio. 
Enshrined on honor's deathless scroll, 
A nation's thanks will tell thy fame ; 
Long as the beauteous rivers roll. 
Shall freedom's votaries hymn thy name. 
For, bravest of the Texan clime. 
Who fought to make her children free, 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. ^^ 

Was Milam ! and his death sublime 
Linked with undying liberty." 

General Vasquez, early in 1842, marched to- 
ward San Antonio, which he took without opposi- 
tion and the American residents abandoned the 
town. Vasquez remained but two days, when he 
retreated toward the Rio Grande. 

In Septeiiiber of the same year Gen. Woll, with 
another Mexican army, took possession of the 
town. At that time the District Court was in 
session, and the American inhabitants, the Judge 
of the Court, and the lawyers in attendance, were 
taken prisoners of war. In a short time, however, 
the citizens rallied, sallied out to attack the en- 
emy, and defeated him at the Salado, a few miles 
from the town 




CHAPTER II. 



THE ALAMO. 

(^^^^^N 18^6 took place the memorable battle 
^^M of the Alamo, where a few brave Texans 
1^^ were opposed to a large army of Mexi- 
^5^ ' cans ; crushed by superior force, were 
slaughtered, and their bodies mutilated and burned 
by order of the vindictive Santa Anna. 

Although the story of the Alamo belongs as 
much to that of San Antonio as to that of the Old 
Missions, and equally to both, yet, it stands out 
so boldly, with a history of its own, that we shall 
give it apart from its surroundings. The church 
and fortress of the Alamo faces the Alamo plaza, 
and stands there a monument of past faith and 
heroic courage. 

It was the second mission in Texas, and was 

founded in 1703, by Franciscans of the Apostolic 

College of Queretaro, in the valley of the Rio 

Grande, under the invocation of San Francisco 

(36) 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 37 

Solano. It remained there five years, when, for 
some reason not explained fully, it was removed to 
San Ildephonso, where it remained until 1710. It 
was then removed back to its former position and 
re-invocated as the mission of San Jose, where it 
rested, under the guidance of Father Jose de Soto, 
until 1 7 18, when, on account of scarcity of water, 
it was taken, by order of the Marquis de Valero, 
Viceroy of New Spain, in honor of whom it was 
partly named, to the west bank of the San Pedro, 
about three-fourths of a mile from the present 
parish church of San Antonio. Here it assumed 
the name of San Antonio de Bexar, under the pro- 
tection of which post it remained until 1722. 

In May, 1744, the first stone of the walls of the 
Alamo was laid, but the structure was never en- 
tirely finished, and it was called and conducted as 
the mission of San Antonio de Valero, where a 
company of troops were stationed, for the protec- 
tion of the town and church, until 1783, when it 
ceased to be a missionary station. The Indians 
brought in for conversion having been, for some 
time previously, sent to the lower missions, it lost 
its ancient prestige and became an humble parish 
church, where worship was conducted until about 
1825. It was an oblong structure, enclosing about 



38 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 

an acre of ground, Mdthin which was the church 
and convent. It was surrounded by a wall three 
feet thick and ten feet high. The Bishop of Mon^ 
terey, in January, 1793, directed that the church 
records of the mission be put in custody of the 
curate of San Antonio de Bexar, which was done 
the following August by Father Lopez, the last of 
the followers of St. Francis, who had labored as 
missionary in the Alamo. 

January, 1836, Santa Anna, the Dictator of Mex- 
ico, equipped an anny of 7,500 men, and, deter- 
mining to crush out the Texas rebellion, took the 
command in person and marched to San Antonio. 

The whole force of the patriots, at this place, was 
commanded by Colonel William B. Travis, and 
did not exceed 170 men. This little band of 
Texans, on the arrival of Santa Anna with his 
army, retreated within the sacred walls of the 
Alamo, where they prepared to sustain a siege. 

The entire Mexican army immediately sur- 
rounded the garrison, which they summoned to 
surrender. On their refusal, a furious bombard- 
ment was at once begun, and, almost without 
intermission, continued from the 25th of February 
until the 8th of March. On the 24th of February 
Colonel Travis issued the following stirring appeal, 



i 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 39 

which he sent, by a trusted messenger, through the 
Mexican lines: 

" COMMANDANCY OF THE AlaMO, ) 

Bexar, Feb. 24, 1836, / 

" 71? t/ie People of Texas and all Americatis in the World — 
Fellow Citizens and Compatriots : I am besieged by a 
thousand or more Mexicans, under Santa Anna. I have 
sustained a continual bombardment and cannonade for 
twenty- four hours, and have not yet lost a man. 

" The enemy have demanded a surrender at discretion, 
otherwise the garrison is to be put to the sword if the fort 
is taken. I have answered the summons with a cannon- 
shot, and our flag still waves proudly from the walls. 7 
shall never surrender or retreat. Then I call upon you, in 
the name of liberty, patriotism, and everything dear to the 
American character, to come to our aid with dispatch. 

"The enemy are receiving reinforcements daily, and will 
doubtless, in a few days, increase to three or four thou- 
sand. 

"Though this call may be neglected, I am determined to 
sustain myself as long as possible, and die like a soldier who 
never forgets what is due to his own honor and that of his 
country. Victory or death. 

" W. Barrett Travis, 

^'Lieutenant Colonel Commanding. 

" P. S. — The Lord is on our side. When the enemy 
appeared in sight, we had not three bushels of corn. We 
have since found, in deserted houses, eighty or ninety 
bushels, and got into the walls twenty or thirty head of 
beeves." 



40 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 

Santa Anna called a council of his officers on 
the morning of the 6th of March, at which he 
declared that the Alamo must be taken at once, 
and at whatever cost. 

The particulars of that terrible struggle can 
never be known. More than 1.500 Mexicans were 
killed and wounded — nearly ten to every one of 
the Texans. The brave defenders of the Alamo 
were vanquished ; the little band of 170 patriots 
was overpowered by the large army of merciless 
Mexicans opposed to them ; every one of the 
defenders of the ''Lone Star" was cruelly 
butchered. 

The taking of the Alamo by the Mexicans : 

" It will be remembered that Santa Anna reached the 
Alazan at noon on the 23d of February ; and Urrea arrived 
at San Patrico before the dawn of the morning of the 
27th. 

" At two o'clock in the afternoon, Santa Anna marched 
into San Antonio. 

" The Texan guard in the town retired in good order to 
the Alamo. Colonel Travis, in anticipation of an attack, 
had done what he could to strengthen the walls, and provide 
means for defence. The Alamo, though strong, was built 
for a mission and not for a fortress ; the walls are thick, but 
of plain stone work, and without a redoubt or bastion to 
command the lines of the fort. The main wall is a rect- 
angle, one hundred and ninety feet long, and one hundred 



SAN AXTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 4 1 

and twenty-two feet wide. On the southeast corner was 
attached the old church, a large building, and contained the 
magazine and soldiers' quarters. Adjoining this on the 
east side was the stone cuartel for horses. About midway 
of the east side of the main wall, but within it, was a two- 
story stone building; the upper story being used for a hos- 
pital, and the lower one for an armory, soldiers' quarters, 
and other purposes. 

" There were four pieces of artillery mounted on the side 
toward the town, and a like number facing the north; two 
on the side of the church, and four to defend the gate 
which looked toward the bridge across the San Antonio 
river. ^ 

" The place was supplied with water from two aqueducts 
running on either side of the walls. But Travis was greatly 
deficient in men, provisions, and ammunition. 

"Santa Anna immediately demanded a surrender of the 
Alamo and its defenders, without terms. The demand was 
answered by a shot from the fort. The enemy then hoisted 
a blood-red flag in the town, and commenced an attack. It 
was intended to be by slow approaches, for at first the bom- 
bardment was harmless. 

"Early on the 25th, Santa Anna in person crossed the 
nver with the battalion de Cazadores of Matamoras, with a 
view of erecting a battery in front of the gate of the 
Alamo. 

"Travis made a strong resistance, and the Mexicans were 
re-inforced by the battalion of Ximenes. The enemy, accord- 
ing to their own account, lost in this action, which continued 
until the afternoon, eiHit in killed and wounded. 



42 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 

" They, however, succeeded that night in erecting their 
battery, being protected by some old houses between the gate 
of the Alamo and the bridge. It was three hundred yards 
south of the place. They also erected another, the same 
night, near the powder-house, or Gaj-ila, a thousand yards 
to the northeast, and posted their cavalry at the old Casa 
Mata on the Gonzales road, toward the east. At night, 
Travis burnt the straw, and wooden houses in the vicinity 
of the fort. 

" Early on the morning of the 26th, there was a slight 
skirmish between a portion of the Texans and the enemy's 
cavalry stationed east of the fort. A norther having sprung 
up on the previous night, the thermometer fell to thirty-nine 
degrees above zero. Meanwhile, Santa Anna had received 
reinforcements, and now enlarged his guard, the sentinels 
being placed nearer the fort. The Texans sallied out for 
wood and water, without loss ; and at night they succeeded 
in burning some old houses northeast from the fort, and near 
a battery erected by the enemy on the Alamo ditch, about 
eight hundred yards distant. 

" During all this time the Mexicans kept up a constant 
firing, but with little effect. On the 28th, they erected an- 
other battery at the old mill, eight hundred yards distant, 
and attempted to cut off the water from the fort. The 
Texans were engaged in strengthening their works, by throw- 
ing up earth on the inside of the walls. 

" It i? proper here to state that Travis wrote on the 23d to 
Colonel Fannin, then at Goliad, making known his position, 
and requesting him to march to his relief. The letter 
reached Goliad on the 25th. Fannin set out on his march 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 43 

for Bexar on the 28th, with three hundred men and four 
pieces of artillery, leaving Captain Westover in command at 
Goliad, with about a hundred men. But he had only pro- 
ceeded two hundred yards, when one of his wagons broke 
down, and, having but one yoke of oxen to each piece of ar- 
tillery, he was compelled to double his teams in order to get 
them, one at a time, across the river. Besides, his only pror 
visions consisted of a tierce of rice and a little dried beef. 

" A council of war was thereupon held, when it was deter- 
mined to return to Goliad, which was accordingly done. 

" The intelligence of Fannin's departure for Bexar was re- 
ceived by the enemy at the latter place the same day on 
which he started, and, before the council of war above al- 
luded to was closed on the 29th, General Sesma, with de- 
tachments of cavalry and infantry, was on his march to 
meet him. 

"On the morning of the 1st of March, thirty-two gallant 
men from Gonzales were safely conducted by Captain John W. 
Smith into the Alamo, making the effective force under Travis 
one hundred and eighty-eight men. The bombardment of 
the fort still continued. The Texans, being short of ammuni- 
tion, fired but seldom. In the evening, however, they struck 
the house occupied by Santa Anna in Bexar with a twelve- 
pound shot. 

" On the 2d the attack was still maintained. The Texans 
continued the fight as their means and strength would allow. 

" On the 3d, the enemy erected a battery on the north of 
the fort, and within musket- shot. 

" Travis added a last appeal to the President of the Con- 
vention, setting forth fully his position and determination. 



\ 



44 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 

" He stated that the 'blood-red banners which waved on 
the church at Bexar, and in the camp above him, were tokens 
that the war was one of vengeance against rebels.' 

" Perhaps by the same courier he sent the affecting note to 
his friend in Washington county — ' Take care of my little 
boy. If the country shall be saved, I may make him a 
splendid fortune ; but if the country should be lost, and I 
should perish, he will have nothing but the proud recollec- 
tion that he is the son of a man who died for his country.' 

" In a letter dated the 3d of March, to a friend, he said : 
• I am still here, in fine spirits, and well to do. With one 
hundred and forty-five men, I have held this place ten days 
against a force variously estimated from fifteen hundred to 
six thousand; and I shall continue to hold it till I get relief 
from my countrymen, or I will perish in its defence. We 
have had a shower of bombs and cannon-balls continnually 
falling among us the whole time, yet none of us have fallen. 
We have been miraculously preserved.' " 

"On that day, J. B. Bonham, who had gone as 
express to Fannin for aid, returned and made his 
way safely into the fort at eleven o'clock in the 
morning. At night the Texans made a sally, and 
had a skirmish with the Mexican advance. The 
enemy continued the fire on the 4th ; but few 
shots were returned from the fort. 

''In the afternoon Santa Anna called a council 
of war, to advise on the question of assaulting the 
place. After much discussion, Cos, Castrillon, 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 45 

and others, were of opinion that the Alamo should 
be assaulted after the arrival of the two twelve- 
pounders expected on the 7th. The President, 
Generals Ramnez, Sesma, and Almonte, were of 
opinion that the twelve-pounders should not be 
waited for, but the assault made. 

*' Santa Anna, without making a public decision, 
determined upon an assault, and made his prepa- 
rations accordingly. His troops then in Bexar 
exceeded four thousand in number, the most of 
whom had been refreshed during the time they had 
spent there. The Texans, on the contrary, were 
worn down by incessant watching and labor 
within the walls. 

*'0n Sunday morning, the 5th of March, a little 
after midnight, the Alamo was surrounded by the 
entire Mexican army. The cavalry were placed 
without the infantry, to cut them down if they 
offered to give way. The latter were provided 
with scaling-ladders. The enemy, thus forming a 
circle facing the fort, advanced rapidly under a 
tremendous fire from the Texan rifles and artillery. 

''Just at daylight the ladders were placed against 
the walls, and an attempt made by the enemy to 
enter the fort, but they were driven back by the 
stern defenders within. Again the charge was 



46 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 

sounded, and a second effort made to reach the 
top of the walls, but again the assailants were 
repulsed. 

*' For a few minutes there was a pause. By the 
presence, threats and promises of Santa Anna, a 
third assault was made, and with more fatal suc- 
cess. The enemy, reaching the tops of the ladders, 
wavered and fell ; but their places were supplied 
by the hundreds pressing onward and behind 
them on each ladder. 

"At length, killed, cut down, and exhausted, the 
Texan defenders did not retreat, but ceased to 
keep back the Mexicans. Instantly the fort was 
filled by the latter. The survivors within the 
Svalls still continued to do battle. They clubbed 
their guns, and used them till they were nearly all 
cut down. It is said that a few called for quarter, 
but the cry was unheeded. One would suppose 
that admiration for such unequaled heroism would 
have saved these few. Travis and Crockett fell — 
the former near the western wall, the latter in the 
corner near the church — with piles of slain around 
them. 

*' It had been previously agreed on by the be- 
sieged that the survivor should fire a large quantity 
of damaged powder in the magazine Major 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 47 

Evans, the master of ordnance, was shot as he 
attempted to perform that last high duty to his 
country. Colonel Bowie, who had been for some 
days sick in his bed, was there butchered and 
mutilated." 

Thus fell the Alamo and its heroic defenders ; 
but before them lay the bodies of five hundred 
and twenty-one of the enemy, with a like number 
wounded. 

"At an hour by sun, on that Sabbath morning, all was 
still : yet the crimson waters of the aqueduct around the 
fort i-esembled the red flag on the church of Bexar ! The 
defenders of Texas did not retreat, but lay there in obedience 
to the command of their country; and in that obedience the 
world has witnessed among men no greater moral sublimity. 

* Those in the fort that survived were : Mrs. Dickerson, 
wife of Lieutenant Dickerson, who fell in the defense, her 
child, a negro servant of Colonel Travis, and two Mexican 
women of Bexar. The bodies of the Texans, after being 
stripped and subjected to brutal indignities, were thrown 
into heaps and burnt. The most of them were American 
colonists, who emigrated to Texas under the assurance of 
the colonization laws, that their rights and liberties should 
be protected. The Mexicans in Bexar were mostly hostile ; 
only three of them were among the defenders of the Alamo." 

The following account of the fall of the Alamo 
is from the Sa7i Felipe Telegraph of March 24th, 
1836: 



48 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 

'• At daybreak of the 6th inst. the enemy surrounded the 
fort with their infantry, with the cavahy forming a circle 
outside to prevent an escape of the garrison; the number 
consisted of at least 4000 against 140. General Santa 
Anna commanded in person, assisted by four generals and a 
formidable train of artillery. Our men had been previously 
much fatigued and harassed by night watching and inces- 
sant toils, having experienced for some days past, a heavy 
bombardment and several real and feigned attacks. 

" But American valor and American love of liberty dis- 
played themselves to the last ; they were never more con- 
spicuous ; twice did they receive a check ; for our men 
were determined to verify the words of the immortal Travis, 
' to make the victory worse to the enemy than a defeat.' 

"A pause ensued after the second attack, which was 
renewed the third time, owing to the exertions of Santa 
Anna and his officers ; they then poured in over the walls 
* like sheep'; the struggle, however, did not even there 
cease ; unable from the crowd and for want of time to load 
their guns and rifles, our men made use of the butt-ends of 
the latter, and continued to fight and to resist until life ebbed 
out through their numberless wounds, and the enemy had 
conquered the fort, but not its brave, its matchless defenders ; 
they perished but they yielded not ; only one, Warner, 
remained to ask for quarter, which was denied by the unre- 
lenting enemy. Total extermination succeeded, and the 
darkness of death occupied the memorable Alamo, but 
recently so teeming with gallant spirits, and filled with deeds 
of never-failing remembrance. 

" We envy not the feelings of the victors, for they must 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 49 

have been bitter and galling, not proud ones. Who would 
not be rather one of the Alamo heroes, than of the living of 
its merciless victors ? Spirits of the mighty, though fallen, 
honors and rest are with you ; the spark of immortality 
which animated your forms shall brighten into a flame, and 
Texas, the whole world, shall hail ye like demi-gods of old, 
as founders of new actions, and as patterns for imitation. 

" We must not omit to mention here the solemn ceremony 
of collecting and devoting to funeral honors the ashes of 
the heroes of the Alamo. It was performed on the 25th of 
February by Colonel Sequin and his command, under orders 
from the general-in-chief of the army. The dead had been 
burnt in three piles. The ashes were collected and placed 
in a neat black coffin, on the inside of the lid of which 
were engraved the names of Travis, Bowie, Crockett ; a 
solemn procession was formed, and the remains borne to the 
place of interment, where, after suitable orations, they were 
buried with military honors." 

After the fall of the Alamo, Gen. Houston thus 
addressed the patriots : 

^* Fellow Soldiers: The only army in Texas is now 
present. Travis has fallen with his men at the Alamo. 

" Fannin's troops have been massacred at La Bahia. 

" There are none to aid us. There is here but a small 
force, and yet it is all that Texas has. We might cross the 
river and attack the enemy. We might be victorious ; but 
we might be overcome. There are but few of us, and if we 
fall, the fate of Texas is sealed. For this reason, and until 
I feel able to meet the enemy in battle, I shall retreat." 
4 



Jo SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 

" San Antonio ! My country, the hour 
Of your promising splendor has past, 
And the chains, which were spurned in your 

moments of power, 
Hang heavily on you at last." 

HYMN OF THE ALAMO, BY COL. R. M. PORTER, FIRST SECRE- 
TARY OF THE NAVY OF THE REPUBLIC OF TEXAS. 

I. 

" Arise ! man the wall — our clarion blast 

Now sounds its final reveille — 

This dawning morn must be the last 

Our fated band shall ever see. 
To life, but not to hope, farewell. 

Yon trumpet's clang and cannon's peal. 
And storming shout and clash of steel, 
Is ours — but not our cotint-ys knell. 
Welcome the Spartan's death ! 

'Tis no despairing strife ; 
We fall — we die — but our expiring breath 
Is Freedom's breath of life 



Here on this new Thermopylae, 

Our monument shall tower on high. 

And Alamo hereafter be 

On bloodier fields the battle-cry ;" 

Thus Travis from the rampart cried ; 
And when his warriors saw the foe 
Like whelmine billows move below. 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 

At once each dauntless heart replied, 
" Welcome the Spartan's death ! 
'Tis no despairing strife ; 
We fall, but our expiring breath 
Is Freedom's breath of life." 

III. 
They come — like autumn leaves they fall ; 
Yet hordes on hordes they onward rush ; 
With gory tramp they mount the wall, 

Till numbers the defenders crush. 

The last was felled the fight to gain — 

Well may the ruffians quake to tell 

How Travis and his hundred fell, 

Amid a thousand foemen slain. 

They died the Spartan's death, 

But not in hopeless strife ; 
Like brothers died — and their expiring 
breath 
Was Freedom's breath of life. 



51 



52 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 



MONUMENT ERECTED 

TO THE 

HEROES OF THE ALAMO. 



STANDING AT THE ENTRANCE OF THE STATE HOUSE AT AUSTIN. 



The following are the inscriptions on the four 
sides : 



TO THE 

GOD 
OF THE 

FEARLESS 
AND TRUE 

IS 

DEDICATED 

THIS 

ALTAR, 

MADE FROM 

THE RUINS 

OF THE 

ALAMO. 



BLOOD OF 

HEROES 

HATH 

STAINED ME. 

LET THE 

STONES 

OF THE 

ALAMO 

SPEAK, 

THAT THEIR 

IMMOLATION 

BE NOT 
FORGOTTEN. 



MARCH 6tH, 
1836, A. D. 



MARCH 6th, 
1836, A. D. 



CROCKETT. 



BONHAM. 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 



53 



BE THEY 
ENROLLED 

WITH 
LEONIDAS 
IN THE 

HOST 
OF THE 
MIGHTY 
DEAD. 



THERMOPYL^ 

HAD HER 

MESSENGER 

OF 

DEFEAT, 

BUT 

THE ALAMO 

HAD 

NONE. 



MARCH 6tH, 
1836, A. D. 



MARCH 6th, 
1836, A. D. 



TRAVIS. 



BOWIE. 



56 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 



DESCRIPTION OF THE MONUMENT STANDING 
IN FRONT OF THE CAPITAL AT AUSTIN. 



"This monument is ten feet high, and made 
from stones taken from the ruins of the Alamo. 
The style of architecture is the composite, and is 
divided into ten sections. The first section, or base 
of the monument, is one solid piece, bearing the 
whole structure. The second section is a square 
plinth, neatly impaneled. The third section is a 
sub-plinth, with Gothic molding and roped head, 
symbolical of binding the whole structure firmly. 

"The 4th section is the die, or main body of the 
monument, consisting of four panels in recess, 
supported by rude fluted pilasters at each corner. 

On two of these panels are raised shields, on 
which are inscribed, in carved letters, the names 
of every man who fell at the ever-memorable battle 
of Alamo. Each shield is suspended from a taste- 
ful wreath, in the centre of which is a beautiful 
bouquet of flowers. The shields and wreaths 
sustaining them are encircled by honeysuckle and 
vines. On the other panels of section four is rep- 
resented the skull and bones crossed. Above the 
skull are two angels facing each other, blowing 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 57 

trumpets. Below the cross-bones are the symbols 
of time — the hour-glass, scythe, and wings. 

" Section five is a solid cap resting on the main 
body, projecting with Gothic moldings hand- 
somely carved, representing oak leaves at the 
corners. On the top of the cap is a square facia 
forming recesses in which are inscribed, in large, 
raised Gothic letters, the names of the gallant 
spirits who fell at the head of the heroes of the 
Alamo. Each name — that of Crockett, Bonham, 
Travis, and Bowie — stands out singly in bold 
relief, on each of the four fronts. From the centre 
of this cap springs the main shaft or spire and 
upper structure. 

''Section six is a Corinthian base, forming four 
square angles. At each angle is a dolphin, in 
solid carved work. On each side, in the centre, 
is a bomb-shell of full size, and made of solid 
stone. 

''Section seven is the base of the shaft, with 
raised fluted corners, and rests upon the Corinth- 
ian base, supported at the corners by the tails of 
the dolphins, and at each side by the bomb- 
shells. 

"In the panels on the base and over the bomb- 
shells, are raised hands in the grasp of friendship. 



58 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 

'* Section eight is the first division of the shaft, 
with raised fluted corners and panels in recess. 

''At the base of each panel are cannons crossed 
in bold relief. Above these cannon, on each panel, 
is the Cap of Liberty, surrounded by branches of 
oak and laurel. Immediately above these, in 
raised letters, is inscribed, on each of the four 
fronts, March 6th, 1836, the date of the memor- 
able battle. On the top of this section of the 
shaft is a cap, with raised fluted corners and recess 
panels. In two of these panels stand in relief the 
heads of angels with wings. On one of the other 
panels is, in relief, a heart pierced with two 
crossed daggers, and on the other panel is a skull 
with twigs crossed underneath. 

''Section nine is the second division of the shaft, 
with the devices in raised Gothic letters, as printed 
on each side of the wood-cut of the monument 
above. 

" Section ten is a cap on top of section nine, 
forming four Gothic points, and in each, in a 
recess panel, stands in bold relief. The Lone Star 
OF Texas. Underneath the stars are raised dag- 
gers. In the centre of the cap above the stars 
stands an urn with flame issuing from it, and at 
each corner of the cap on which the large urn 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 



59 



rests, are four smaller urns, out of which also 
issues flame. 

"This monument was made in the Republic of 
Texas, by American artists. Viewing the work as 
a whole, both as to boldness and appropriateness 
of design and beauty of execution, it would reflect 
credit on any artist of ancient or modern times." 

The following names, of persons who were 
slaughtered at the Alamo, are inscribed upon the 
north and south fronts : 



M. Autrey, 

R. Allen, 

M. Andress, 

Ayres, 

Anderson, 

W. Blazeby, 

J. B. Bowman, 

Baker, 

S. C. Blair, 

Blair, 

Brown, 

Bowin, 

Balentine, 

J. J. Baugh, 

Burn el I, 

Butler, 



J. Baker, 

Burns, 

Bailey, 

J. Beard, 

Bailess, 

Bourn, 

R. Cunningham, 

J. Clark, 

J. Cane, 

Cloud, 

S. Crawford, 

Cary, 

W. Cummins, 

R. Crossan, 

Cockran, 

G W. Cottle, 



6o 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 



J. Dust, 
J. Dillard, 
A. Dickinson, 

C. Despalier, 
L. Davell, 

J. C. Day, 
J. Dickens, 
Devault, 
W. Dearduff, 
J. Ewing, 
T. R. Evans, 

D. Floyd, 
J. Flanders, 
W. Fishbaugh, 
Forsyth, 

G. Fuga, 

J. C. Goodrich. 

J. George, 

J. Gaston, 

J. C. Garrett, 

C. Grimes, 

Gwyn, 

J. E. Garwin, 

Gillmore, 

Hutchason, 

S. Holloway, 



Harrison, 
Hieskell, 
J. Hayes, 
Horrell, 
Harris, 
Hawkins, 
J. Holland, 
W. Hersie, 
Ingram, 
John, 
J. Jones, 
L. Johnson, 

C. B. Jamison, 
W. Johnson, 
T. Jackson, 

D. Jackson, 
Jackson, 

G. Kemble, 
A. Kent, 
W. King, 
Kenny, 
J. Kenney, 
Lewis, 
W. Linn, 
Wm. Lightfoot, 
J. Lonly, 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 



6i 



Lanio, 

W. Lightfoot, 

G. W. Lynn, 

Lewis, 

W. Mills, 

Micheson, 

E. T. Mitchell, 

E. Melton, 

M'Gregor, 

T. Miller, 

J. McCoy, 

E. Morton, 

R. Mussulman, 

Millsop, 

R. B. Moore, 

W. Marshall, 

Moore, 

R. McKenny, 

McCafferty, 

J. McGee, 

G. W. Main, 

M. Querry, 

G. Nelson, 

Nelson, 

J. Noland, 

Nelson, 



Wm. G. Nelson, 

C. Ostiner, 

Pelone, 

C. Parker, 

N. Pollard, 

G. Paggan, 

S. Robinson, 

Reddenson, 

N. Rough, 

Rusk, 

Robbins, 

W. Smith, 

Sears, 

C. Smith, 

Stockton, 

Stewart, 

A. Smith, 

J. C. Smith, 

Sewall, 

A. Smith, 

Simpson, 

R. Star, 

Starn, 

N. Sutherland, 

W. Summers, 

J. Summerline, 



62 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 



Thompson, 

Tomlinson, 

E. Taylor, ■\ 

G. Taylor, V brothers. 

J. Taylor, ) 

W. Taylor, 

Thornton, 

Thomas, 

J. M. Thruston, 

Valentine, 

Williamson, 

D. Wilson, 

Walsh, 



Washington, 
W. Wells, 

C. Wright, 
R. White, 

J. Washington, 
T. Waters, 
War nail, 
J. White, 

D. Wilson, 
J. Wilson, 

L. J. Wilson, 
Warner, 
A. Wolf. 



CHAPTER III. 



THE OLD MISSIOI^S. 

Stern impress of time, thy implacable sway 

Extends over all that I see; 
The great and the mighty must yield to decay, 

All nature is subject to thee ; 
But as I look back on the years that have fled, 

Since those missions first rose from the sand. 
As I sigh o'er the moss-covered tomb of the dead, 

I can trace out a merciful hand.'" 

•^^ HE adventurous Spanish soldier, after 
having gained Texas for conquest and 
spoil only, abandoned it to the crown, and 
the King ceded it to the Church, which 
became the trustee, as it were, for the Indian. 

Following in the tracks of the conqueror, the 
Spaniards, under the auspices of the Church, late 
in the seventeenth century, and early in the eigh- 
teenth, between the years 1690 and 1720, founded 
many missions in Mexico, Texas and California. 
(64) 




SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 65 

Among the number, and which were probably 
the first Spanish grants in Texas, were the mis- 
sions of Alamo, Concepcione, San Jose, San Juan, 
Espada, and Goliad, or La Bahia, all in the vicinity 
of San Antonio. 

These missions were the work of those brave 
Franciscan monks, Cliristian messengers, who en- 
tered an unknown wilderness, peopled with savage 
tribes and wild animals, to plant the cross — the 
emblem of peace and good will — and to conquer 
with it a new domain for the aggrandizement of 
the Church and State. They raised lofty temples 
in praise of religion, and brought bowing to their 
altars the heathen tribes surrounding them. 

The structures they erected are now, after the 
lapse of more than a century, but the crumbling 
ruins of an eventful past — massive architectural 
wonders, abandoned to the wilderness from which 
they sprang — and they stand there now but dumb 
witnesses of by-gone times, when the solitude was 
first startled by the strained voices of the con- 
queror and conquered, mingled with sounds of 
war and the more peaceful sound of the tools of 
the busy workmen, as they shaped and reared stone 
upon stone into these holy edifices. One after 
another, by the ravages of war, discordant opinion. 



66 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 

and the passage of time, the missions have lapsed 
into ahnost pre-existing isolation ; the desert has 
gathered about them again, and a few devout 
Mexican families only remain as the relic of all 
their pristine grandeur, moral influence, and hos- 
pitality. 

These missions were half military, half ecclesi- 
astical — a Church to teach the story of the Cross, 
and a fort to maintain and protect it from the very 
beings whom it was sought to bring to its foot. 

The natives were called by the missionaries Los 
Indios, and were divided into two classes : the con- 
verted ones were Los Indies Rcducidos, and the un- 
converted Los Indios Bdrbaros, They were formed 
around the missions into communities, having 
governors chosen from the converted Indians, to 
whom were assigned various duties — as to see that 
the laws, ecclesiastical, moral, and sanitary, were 
complied with ; to take care of the church or 
chapel, and to report those who did not attend 
regularly to their religious duties. The children 
were taught to speak, read and sing in Spanish. 

The manner of taking possession of mission land 
is thus described : 

" The Captain of the Presidio of San Antonio, Jan, i?, 
1 731, decreed the establishment of the missions named. 



SAN ANTOxN'lO AND ENVIRONS. 67 

"All these formalities being attended to, and the acts of 
each party being written down, and attested by assisting 
witnesses, ihe Captain of San Antonio proceeded, 5lh March, 
1731, to the first mission ground, called, 'Our Lady of the 
Concepcion de Acuna,' accompanied by several of the 
officers of the presidios, and Father Bergera, and seized the 
land of the captain of the tribe, in the name of all the other 
Indians who had attached themselves to said mission, and 
led him about over the locality, and caused him to pull up 
weeds, throw stones, and perform all the other acts of real 
possession, that by virtue thereof they might not be dispos- 
sessed without first being iieard and defended by Father 
Bergera, president of the Texas Missions, or such other of 
the clergy as might have administration over them. 

*' After declaring the bounds of the mission, there were at- 
tached to it pasture lands, watering places, irrigating privi- 
leges, uses, and services, and the further right, in planting 
time, to drive their stock out West for pasture, so as not to 
prejudice the crops. The act of possession concluded by 
notifying the Indians, through an interpreter, what they 
should do in advancement of Christian doctrine, and in 
avoidance of crime, the same formality being observed iu 
each case." 

By reading the above carefully, it will be ob- 
served that the title to the land was assumed to be 
in the King of Spain, and was transferred to the 
Indians, and not to the priests, whose vows would 
not permit them to own any worldly estate. 

Whildin, in his Western Texas y says : 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 69 

" The Mexican clergy were missionaries of tlie order of 
St. Francis, known as Franciscan friars. Tiiey were ani- 
mated -with great zeal, and occasionally returned to Spain to 
recruit their ranks. Their custom was to visit the convents 
of the Order, lay before the young men of the fraternity the 
claims of America, and ask for volunteers to carry the Cross 
into the New World. On one of these occasional visits, 
they found a young man who impatiently volunteered the 
moment he was asked. He was overflowing with fervor and 
determination. The missionaries inquired of the Superior 
of the convent what sort of a man he was. ' Oh,' was the 
reply, ' you will have in him another Paul ; he will be a 
second Ignatius.' And so it proved." 

Father Antonio Morgil, whose name, so far as the 
writer knows, is here printed for the first time for 
American information, had been reared in pov- 
erty. 

Educated by the Church, he was a student of 
wonderful attainments. He was deeply versed in 
scholastic lore, and in the elegant arts of life. 

His mind was thoroughly cultured, and beneath 
his coarse frock there beat a heart overflowing 
with love for his fellows. His parents, knowing 
that he had a brilliant future in the Church of 
Spain, and that if he went to America they should 
see him no more, endeavored to persuade him to 
abandon the proposed work. But he was not the 
man to lay down the Cross having once lifted it. 



70 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 

He went to Mexico. There his zeal and talents 
soon gave him high place in the order. In 1715 
he began the mission work of Texas. How many 
posts he established is not known, but there are 
still the ruins of five to be seen in the vicinity of 
San Antonio. They were all founded about the 
year 1720, and are now objects of general interest 
and wonder. 

That of Alamo was the first of these. The 
name in its religious signification was San Antonio 
de Valero. The word Alamo signifies cotton- 
wood. 

The Mission buildings were, of course, erected 
subsequent to tlie first establishment of the Mis- 
sion. 

The Reverend P'ather Johnson, who courteously 
permitted me to make an examination of the 
original records of the Missions, now in the 
archives of the Cathedral of San Fernando, states 
that the Alamo Mission was originally established 
on the Rio Grande in 1703, but was removed to 
its present location in 17 18 by the Reverend San 
Buenstchad y Obsofis, a Franciscan friar. The 
corner-stone of the building now standing was 
laid May 8, 1745. The description of this build- 
ing, given with the details of the battle, render 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 7 I 

further account unnecessary here. In fact the 
sword has so nearly absorbed the memory of the 
Cross, that the Alamo is seldom spoken of as a 
Mission. The second Mission, therefore, properly 
becomes in our narrative 

THE FIRST MISSION. 

The foundation of this was laid in 1731, and 
until its abandonment was the seat of hospitality 
and refuge, for the savage, the warrior, and the 
wanderer. It was first located on the St. Mark 
river; but there being a scarcity of water at that 
place, the Viceroy of Mexico, Casa Fuerte, com- 
missioned the Governor of Texas to make a new- 
location. 

After some search they selected three sites: two 
on tlie San Antonio River, and one on the Me- 
dina. 

The Viceroy submitted the report to Ribera, 
former inspector oi \\\^ presidios of New Spain, for 
his opinion, who replied, on the 22d of Septem- 
ber, 1730, concurring in the report of the commis- 
sion, except in ''regard to the location for tiie 
lower mission on the Medina, at twenty leagues 
distance from the presidios San Antonio and La 
Bahia, where it may be liable to «attack from the 
Apaches, who on many occasions appear in a 



72 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 

hostile nianner in that territory — which danger 
would not exist if the said mission were located in 
the same vicinity of the other two." 

A battle between a band of Texans and a body 
of Mexicans was fought at this mission, of which 
the following is an account : 

"On the 27th of October, 1835, a detachment of Texans, 
under command of Captains Fannin and Bowie, ninety-two 
men, were encamped on the San Antonio River, on a beauti- 
ful spot near the old mission of Concepcione. On the morn- 
ing of the 28th the Texans found themselves surrounded by 
a large body of Mexicans, four hundred and fifty, who had 
planted a battery of artillery on a neighboring hill. 

"A fire was opened on the little band, under the protection 
of which the Mexican cavalry made a furious charge. 

" The rifles of the Texans poured a deadly fire upon the 
advancing enemy, who fled This attack was repeated three 
times with the same result, when the order was given to 
charge the cannon. Then the handful of brave Texans 
dashed up the hill, captured the field-pieces, and turned them 
upon the routed foe." 

Whildin observes : 

" This was called La Purissima Concepcio7ie de Aciaia, 
and was located two miles below the city. It is, as are the 
others, of an architectural style peculiarly their own. 

" It might not be inaptly named Christianized Moorish. 

" The front is a square, flanked on either side by a dome- 
covered belfry. The principal door is surmounted by a 
triangular facade, all of which is deserving of deep and 



74 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 

careful study. The whole outside of the building is covered 
with a coat of cement or mastic, which was painted in 
various geometrical forms, somewhat after the fashion of 
tiles. One tower contained a room in which the sacred 
vestments and articles not in daily use were kept. The 
other was the baptistery, which also had an altar. 

"The walls of this last are painted with various emblems, 
among which the cord of the Franciscans, a serpent, and the 
seven dolors, or sorrows, which pierced the ^icart of the 
Virgin Mother, are conspicuous. The entrance to the church 
is between the towers and through a vestibule. The audi- 
torium is not large, but is lighted by a dome which, though 
less massive, is far more beautiful in its proportions than 
that of the Capitol at Washington. 

" The church is open for occasional service, and the altar 
is furnished with the gaudy decorations of a barbaric Chris- 
tianity. Here the humble Mexicans assemble when their 
good priest comes around, and strive to be as good as is with- 
in their capacity. The cells of the monks furnish an abode 
for, perhaps, the most untidy German family in Texas. 

" If the stalwart matron dwelling there ever knew or ex- 
perienced the luxury of a bath, it must have been in very 
early childhood. Through her apartments the sight-seer 
may pass, ascend to the roof by a ladder, and view, not 
only its singular construction, but also a landscape of surpass- 
ing beauty. Beneath the eye are the broad leagues where 
thousands of Christian Indians once industriously tilled 
their fields, and where the brave missionaries of the Church 
raised the Cross and buried the tomahawk. These fields, 
now abandoned to wild growth, were then rich with crops. 

" Their aqueducts and irrigating canals still remain, ex- 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 75 

amples of patient industry and frugal toil. At a distance, 
the blue hills rise heavenward in all their misty grandeur, 
while at one's feet the river gurgles over its stony bed iu a 
murmur of praise to the author of all beauty. At all the 
Missions there were large stone inclosures, like that of 
Alamo, in which thousands of Christian Indians could as- 
semble for their solemn festivals, or find shelter from a sud- 
den attack of hostile tribes. Attached to them were also 
usually stations for troops, which protected the country 
around, and purchased supplies from the surplus of the 
Church. All the Missions were under the supervision of 
Father Morgill, who visited each in its turn and directed its 
general administration. 

" Some of the most bloody fights of the Texan Revolution 
were fought at the Mission de la Concepcione. One of the 
most brilliant victories that the army achieved was gained 
on this very ground. 

THE MISSION OF SAN JOSE. 

This was founded about 1720, by Father Mor- 
gill, and had collegiate and scholastic institutions 
attached to it. 

The lands were claimed by Don Domingo Cas- 
telo, one of the King's ensigns, for his services at 
the Presidio de San Saba ; but, after a protracted 
lawsuit between himself and the Mission, the title 
was vested in the Indians of the Mission, on the 
1 8th of November, 1776, by purchase for one hun- 
dred and fifty dollars. 



76 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 

Whildin, in describing it, says : 

" It is on the west side of the river and four miles from 
the city. It was the grandest of them all, and its ruins still 
tell of the arts and attainments of the heroic missionaries. 

" So far as these afford an indication, its appearance was 
like that of the Concepcione. It will be seen in the engrav- 
ing that there is but one tower remaining. No attempt has 
been made to supply the ruined parts, or to picture the build- 
ings as they originally were. 

" Some published engravings represent San yose as hav- 
ing had but one tower. The opinion of the writer is that at 
first there were two, as at Concepcione. The principal door- 
way is a wonderful work of sculptural art. Its height is 
about thirty-five feet. Fronting the door, which is semi- 
circular, there is a sculpture of foliage and scriptural em- 
blems intermixed. On the right stands a statue of St. 
Joseph ; on the left, statues of the Virgin Mother and infant 
Saviour. Above the keystone of the arch is a statue repre- 
senting the Virgin in the position which, in ecclesiastical 
art, indicates the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, 
the arms partly raised and extended, with the palms of the 
hands turned outward. Above this is a large window, with 
ornamental surroundings of sacred emblems, flowers and 
foliage. There are also three statues of friars, in the habit 
of their Order. It is noteworthy that the female statues are 
less true to nature than those which represent the men and 
children, of which latter there are several in the form of 
winged cherubs. The Madonna has the square jaw and 
hard features which are seldom found save in women whose 
lot has been full of danger, hardship, and suffering. 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 77 

*' The statue of St. Joseph and those of the friars are ex- 
cellent. 

"In size, San Jose was perhaps four times that of any of the 
others. Its baptistery window is almost equal to the main 
door in sculptural beauty. The portion in ruins is very ex- 
tensive, more than half the walls having fallen. A few 
Mexicans live near and care for the chapel, which was a 
model of rude neatness. The clever, and evidently pious, 
Mexican matron who brought the key for our entrance, had 
hung the altar with gaudy patchwork quilts of her own manu- 
facture. The most exquisite tapestry could not have told 
the story of devout love more plainly. There were some 
old pictures which, in the dim twilight of the setting sun, 
could not be well seen. Every part of tiie ruined chapel 
was arranged with neatness and decency. The floor of the 
sacristry and that of the baptistery, which we could not 
enter, had been paved with tiles of home manufacture. 

" The clay of which these were made was procured in the 
vicinity; and they are equal to any of European manufacture. 

This clay will, doubtless, one day be the foundation of a 
valuable industry. 

" The third mission is that of 

" SAN JUAN DE CONCEPCION. 

" It is six miles from San Antonio, and on the east bank 
of the river. Its natural location is most delightful. The 
bends of the river at this point are of surpassing loveliness. 

" It was located on its present site about 1731. 

♦• This Mission is in a style of architecture much less ornate 
than that of the others, unless, as seems to be the case, the 



78 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 

buildings now standing were intended to be the parts of a 
large and grand design. The architecture, though of the 
same general character, seems to be somewhat different in 
style in the third and fourth Mission from that of the first 
and second. From the cursory examination that our time 
permitted to be given to it, the impression was that the 
present chapel was intended for permanent use as a granary 
or storehouse, when the main building, of which it seems to 
be the. left wing, should be finished. Be this as it may, this 
Mission was evidently far from being complete. 

" The festival of the patron saint had been celebrated a 
few days before our visit, and the altar had been arranged 
for service. Before it stood two life-sized images — the one, 
Ecce Homo, and the other the Virgin Mother. Doubtless 
they served to suggest holy thoughts and pious emotions to 
the uncultured Mexicans who worshiped there ; but it may 
not have been sinful to smile at the art which arrayed the 
'* Mother of Our Lord" in a dress of white Swiss, wanting 
only a pin-back to be in the latest style of the dressmaker s 
art. It is noteworthy that the Mexicans who still surround 
these Missions are more cleanly, orderly, and reverential 
than those of the city. Intellectually they appear no 
higher ; morally they are better. 

"THE FOURTH MISSION, 

Of San Francisco de Espada, is nine miles down the river, 
and has suffered more from time and hostility than the 
others. The front wall, or rather a portion of it, still 
stands. All the rest is a pile of ruined stones. 

" Tourists will discover nowhere in America ruins more 



8o SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 

interesting than these Missions. Artists will nowhere find 
inspiration for their pencils like that which the landscape 
that surrounds them affords. 

" It is much to be hoped that Concepcione, at least, will be 
restored and preserved to future generations. A pious 
Catholic lady once devised a scheme to renovate the build- 
ings and make them a home for health— an Hotel des In- 
valides, where consumptives an'd others could resort for 
relief and cure. It is a great pity that the war ended this, 
as it did so many other good projects. 

FIFTH MISSION. 

This Mission, though not in the immediate 
vicinity of San Antonio, has, nevertheless, a cer- 
tain interest for travelers, and we give a short 
description of it. 

Goliad, or La Bahia, by which name it is bet- 
ter known, was founded soon after the Spaniards 
arrived in Texas. It is situated on the west bank 
of the river, and at one time had a population of 
nearly two thousand inhabitants, but now contains 
but about sixty or seventy families. There is a 
pretty new town on the north side of the stream, 
principally American, which has been built within 
the last twenty years 

While Mexico and Spain were at war, Gutierez, 
a Mexican general, was besieged in this Mission 
by a large Spanish force, which he repulsed. 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 8 1 

It was once an important business point, enjoy- 
ing a remunerative trade between it and the Rio 
Grande. 

The ruins of a custom house may yet be seen 
near the Mission. The church was built in an 
oblong form, twenty feet by eighty, with an arched 
roof of solid masonry — as all of the Missions were. 

A stone wall, three hundred and fifty feet square, 
surrounded it, and the fort attached to it com- 
manded the river and the town, and had a bastion 
at each corner. 

Colonel Fannin, on the 19th of March, 1836, 
was, with four hundred and fifteen men, captured 
here by a large body of Mexicans. On the morn- 
ing of the 27th of the same month, his men were 
marched out in line and shot. Fannin himself, 
calmly seated in a chair, was shot within the Mis- 
sion walls. 
6 








i( frusiiii 



•^ 




CHAPTER IV. 



PUBLIC BUILDII^QS. 




THE POST OFFICE. 

HE Post Office building is leased for 
ten years; from December i, 1877, to 
December i, 1887, at ^1,000 per annum. 
It is a two-story stone building — tlie 
lower portion only being used for the post office. 
It was built by Peter Gallagher, (now dec'd), 
especially for the post office, according to specifi- 
cations submitted with his proposition, which was 
made, it is thought, more out of public spirit than 
with a view of making money. Mr. Gallagher 
was an Irishman, very shrewd, of good business 
habits and judgment — made a very large fortune, 
mostly it is thought, by trade with the Mexicans 
— a man of good heart, good head, and with a 
great deal of pride in his city. 

It is said to be the finest rented post office 
(84) 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 85 

building in the southwest. The boxes are all Yale 
lock boxes, and the fitting up generally is said to 
have cost Mr. Gallagher ^3,500. The building is 
situated on the Alamo Plaza, near the Menger 
House, the first hotel in the place. It is now 
owned by the Gallagher estate. 

The post office at San Antonio, Texas, was es- 
tablished 2 2d May, T846, and is of the second 
class; the postmaster's compensation is ^2,500. 
The surplus proceeds of the office are deposited 
with the postmaster at Austin, Texas. It is also a 
money-order office. 

Gross revenue for fiscal year ending June 30. 

1880 ^27,856 65 

Expenses of office, salaries, etc iIj452 78 

Net revenue $16,403 87 

Number of money domestic orders issued, fiscal 

year ending June 30, 1 880 6,892 

Amount of same $106,790 77 

Amount of fees on money-order business (do- 
mestic) $901 10 

Number of domestic orders paid 7^541 

Amount of same $180,522 99 

Number of international orders issued 345 

Amount of same $6,521 74 

Fees on international money-orders 160 70 

» 

Postmaster James L. Truehart appointed May 22, 1 846. 



86 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 

Postmaster O. C. Woodward appointed July 7, 1847. 
Postmaster Ralph W. Peacock appointed Nov. 18, 1847. 
Postmaster John Borden appointed May 9, 1848. 
Office became subject to Presidential Appointment, and 
Postmaster John Borden appointed March 16, 1853. 
Postmaster A. G. Brown appointed July 24, 1855. 
Postmaster Henry L. Radaz appointed June 25, 1856. 
Postmaster Sidney P. Gambie. appointed June 23, 1865. 
Postmaster Mrs. Margaret E. Morris appointed April 19, 
1876. 

Postmaster John C. Manning appointed Aug. 15, 1879. 
John C. Manning present incumbent. 

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS MAILS. 

SenL Rec d. 
Route 31002, Houston to San Antonio. 

Railroad Mails ... 6 6 

Star Mails 

Route 31 148, San Antonio to Corpus Christi 6 6 

31149, " Helena 6 6 

3 11 50, " Laredo 6 6 

31 151, " Stockdale 6 6 

31 152, " Friotown 6 6 

31 153, " Eagle Pass 7 7 

31 154, " Bandera 6 6 

31155, " Fredericksburg.... 7 7 

31621, " Spring Branch i i 

31677, " Rossville 6 6 



Total mails received and sent per week .... 63 63 
UNITED STATES QUARTERMASTER'S DEPOT. 

Brief history and description of the United States 
Quartermaster'' s Depot, San Antonio, Texas. 
Ever since the Mexican war, it has been consid- 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 87 

ered that San Antonio was the most eligible point 
in Texas for Military Headquarters, and for a gen- 
eral depot of military supplies ; except at short 
intervals, and for short periods of time, from 1848 
to 1861, this has been the military centre of Texas. 

A permanent government establishment here was 
a matter equally important to the United States 
and to the people of this city and section. 

The old historic Alamo buildings, and a spacious 
structure erected by Messrs. Vance & Bro., af- 
forded accommodation for the Military Headquar- 
ters and Depot, for many years previous and up 
to 1861. 

After the restoration of the United States author- 
ity in Texas, in 1865, San Antonio again assumed 
its military importance. 

On the 17th December, 1867, Judge S. A. Pas- 
chal offered a donation to the United States 
Government, through its department commander, 
of 20 acres of city lots, adjoining a tract of 70 
acres of government land, known as the Goot Tan- 
nery, on the west side and just below the head of 
the river, as a site for headquarters and depot. 

That offer was not favorably considered. 

In February, 1869, the city authorities offered a 
donation of sixty (60) acres, situa*ted a quarter of 



88 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 

a mile below the United States Arsenal, on the 
west side of the river, as a site, and also tendered 
free use of the rock quarries at the head of the 
river. This was declined by the War Department 
on account of certain conditions annexed to the 
donation. 

In May, 1869, another site -was tendered by the 
city to the government, of about (100) one hun- 
dred acres, on the river, north of the city on the 
east side. This offer was not accepted. 

In February, 1870, the city again offered a site 
of forty (40) acres of city lots located on the 
Alamo ditch, northeast, and about two and one- 
half (2j4) niiles from the main Plaza; this tract 
now forms a part of the present depot grounds. 

This donation was strongly recommended by 
the Department Commander, approved by the 
Quartermaster-General, and accepted by the War 
Department. 

On the 25th April, 1870, the Secretary of War 
authorized the Quartermaster-General to establish 
and erect upon this site a depot for military sup- 
plies; the Quartermaster-General having stated 
under date of April 21st, that he was " of opinion 
that nearly all the military establishment of San 
Antonio can be concentrated within the limits of 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 89 

this depot, and that nearly the whole rent roll, 
now near ^25,000, can be saved." 

On May 5th, 1870, ^100,000 was placed to the 
credit of the Chief Quartermaster in Texas, with 
instructions that no part thereof was to be expended 
until the deed to the land was examined and ap- 
proved by the Attorney-General. 

The city executed an unconditional deed, to the 
United States, of this site, dated May 6th, 1870; 
that, with the proclamation of the Governor, re- 
linquishing jurisdiction of the State of Texas over 
said tract, dated June 3d, 1870, was handed to the 
Chief Quartermaster of Department of Texas, on 
the 23d of June, 1870, and forwarded to the 
Quartermaster-General, and by him forwarded to 
the Attorney General in July following. 

Plans for depot buildings were submitted by the 
Quartermaster-General to the Secretary of War, 
August 14, 1870. 

It was not until March 23, 187 1, that the Attor- 
ney-General decided that the title was good and 
valid to the United States ; and on the 31st of the 
same month the Quartermaster-General instructed 
the Chief Quartermaster, Department, of Texas, to 
''push forward the work of erecting buildings, and 
to transfer public stores thereto, and abate the 
heavy rents paid, as fast as possible." 



90 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 

On the 22d of April, 1871, it was discovered that 
plans sent to the War Department in August, 1870, 
had been overlooked, and not sent to Department 
Headquarters in Texas; and it was also ascertained, 
then, that the land donated and accepted did not 
include the site desired ; all action, therefore, was 
suspended until August, 1871. 

The city of San Antonio, on the nth of August, 

1 871, made an additional donation of adjoining 
lots, on the east line of former donation, compris- 
ing forty-three (43) acres, making a tract of eighty- 
three (83) acres. 

Deeds to this second donation were forwarded, 
through the War Department, to the Attorney- 
General, and by him, on the 8th of January, 1872, 
returned disapproved for want of certain evidence. 

The requisite evidwice was obtained, and re- 
turned to the Attorney-General in February, 1872 ; 
and, on the nth of June, following, the Attorney- 
General decided that the Government had a valid 
title to the land of the second donation. 

On the 28th of June, 1872, the Quartermaster- 
General informed the commanding officer. Depart- 
ment of Texas, that under a law approved May 18, 

1872, the Secretary of War had decided that the 
^100,000, previously set apart for building the 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 9 1 

depot, must be covered back into the Treasury, and 
no further action about building the depot could 
be taken. 

The President, in his message to Congress, De- 
cember, 1872, recommended a re-appropriation of 
^100,000 for the San Antonio depot. 

On the 2d of January, 1873, ^^^^ Secretary of 
War — then W. W. Belknap — addressed a commun- 
ication to the Senate and House of Representatives, 
in which he '* withdrew the recommendation for 
the construction of a permanent depot for military 
supplies in San Antonio, Texas, contained in his 
annual report of November, 1872." 

The city of San Antonio, in January, 1873, took 
measures to have the importance of the subject — 
economy to the Government, its good faith in- 
volved (having accepted eighty-three (8;^) acres 
of city lots as a donation for the purpose) — duly 
and properly represented to Congress by a special 
agent selected and sent to Washington for that 
purpose. 

Congress, at that session, re-appropriated $too,- 
000 for a military depot of supplies at San Antonio, 
Texas, by act approved the 3d of March, 1873. 

On the 24th of March, 1873,, the Secretary of 
War instructed the Quartermaster-General to "al- 



92 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 

low no action to be taken by any officer of his 
department looking to the erection of these depot 
bnildings until further instructions from him;" 
and it was not until May 6th, 1875, that said 
further instructions were given, Congress, mean- 
while, having continued the appropriation. 

The Quartermaster- General on the 12th May, 
1875, informed the Chief Quartermaster Depart- 
ment of Texas, that the "Secretary of War has 
given orders that this long delayed and important 
work shall now go on." Plans and instructions 
were then again prepared and forwarded. 

A third donation from the city to the United 
States of g^-^Q acres of city lots, adjoining on the 
south the two previous donations, making a total 
of 92y^-q\ acres — for a site, was made on the j6th 
of June, 1875, ^'"^^ ^^^^^ thereto was decided to be 
valid by the Attorney-General on the 5th October, 
1875. Proclamation by the Governor, ceding ex- 
clusive jurisdiction over the last two donations of 
land to the United States, was made May 27th, 
1878. 

In the interval, between June and October, 
1875, proposals for constructing the Depot had 
been invited, bids received and opened August 20, 
1875. All these bids were rejected. 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 93 

About June ist, 1875, Brevet Major-General 
M. C. Meigs, Quartermaster- General, was ordered 
to Europe; and no active steps were taken in erect- 
ing the buildings until the resignation of Secretary 
Belknap, and the return of General Meigs to duty 
as Quartermaster-General, in April, 1876. 

Measures were then taken for the completion of 
the work. Proposals invited by advertisement, 
published May 12, were opened on the 31st May, 
1876, and the contract for building the Depot 
awarded to Ed. Braden & Co., of San Antonio, 
at ^83,900.00, and a preliminary contract signed 
June 7th, 1876. The work was vigorously pushed 
by Chief Quartermaster A. G. Perry — Deputy 
Quartermaster-General Captain Geo. W. Davis, 
14th U. S. Infantry, having immediate supervision 
and direction, aided by Col. W. H. Darn, Civil 
Engineer. 

On the 4th of February, 1878, the contract was 
officially reported as having been fully complied 
with, and the Depot buildings completed. 

Total cost of buildings up to that time, includ- 
ing certain extra work provided for in contract, 
was ^98,366.62. Since then, to provide offices 
for Department Headquarters, an addition to the 
second story of the south front of the depot lias 



94 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 

been constructed. This work was ordered by the 
Secretary of War, July 9th, 1878, and executed 
promptly by Brevet Brig. -General B. C. Card, 
Chief Quartermaster, Department of Texas, cost- 
ing ^19,952.00. This was completed November 
4th, 1878. 

The Depot buildings are located upon the land 
donated by the city of San Antonio, in the South-- 
east corner of the tract, which comprise ()2^-^j^ 
acres, situated northeast of the main Plaza, and 
distant therefrom two and one-half (2 j^) miles. 

The buildings cover four sides of a square of 
six hundred and twenty-four (624) feet, outside 
measurement. Built of rubble stone masonry, 
with tin roof. Stone, a gray limestone from the 
quarries near the head of the San Antonio river. 

On the east, west, and first story of south sides 
of square are the store rooms ; size, generally 
30x40 feet in the clear ; on the north side are the 
shops and wagon sheds, and storage room for 
rough material ; two cellars under the two store 
rooms of east end of south side of square, for sub- 
sistence stores of a certain class. In the second 
story of south front are the offices. l\\ all there 
are thirt)--eight (38) store rooms and two cellar 
rooms, opening only upon the inner court yard. 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 95 

There are twenty-four (24) office rooms, gen- 
erally 20x20 feet, in the clear, opening upon a 
veranda and arcade on the north front of south 
side of square. Veranda and arcade (10) ten feet 
wide, extending the whole length of that side. 

In the centre of south front is the main arch- 
way entrance ; also, one gateway in the east point 
near the north end, and another gateway near the 
north end of west point. 

In the centre of the court yard there is a water 
and watch tower fifteen (15) feet square at the 
base, and ninety (90) feet high to eaves of roof. 

In the apex of the roof of the tower is placed a 
lantern, at night lighting the whole couri-yard, 
and making every store-room door and gateway 
plainly visible to the watchman from his room 
near the top of the tower. 

Just under the roof is an iron tank containing 
6,400 gallons of water; below that is the watch- 
man's room, 64 feet from the ground, with triplet 
French casement windows, in each face of the 
tower, opening upon narrow ornamental balconies 
of iron, supported by stone brackets. 

A brick shaft four (4) feet square is constructed 
in the centre of the tower from base to the floor 
of the watchman's room; between the shaft and 



96 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 

the walls of the tower is the stairway ; up through, 
well in the centre of the shaft, are passed the 
water pipes to the tank. 

Adjoining the north side of the square is an en- 
closure 638x728 feet, the north and east sides of 
"which are formed by a close board fence eight (8) 
feet high ; the west side an open board fence five 
(5) feet high ; the north side of Depot walls form- 
ing the south line. Within said enclosure are 
located the stables, corrals, and men's quarters; 
the stables afford stall-room for 404 animals ; the 
men's quarters are 120x20 feet. To the west and 
adjoining this enclosure, is the stack or hay yard. 

A complete system of water supply is provided 
at the Depot. 

The machinery of the water works is located in 
a building near the Acequia Madre, or Alamo 
ditch, at the western end of Government Depot 
land, on ground 77 feet lower than the earth's sur- 
face at the foot of the towers, eight (8) feet above 
the level of water in Acequia which is 50 feet dis- 
tant, and 26 feet above surface of water in San 
Antonio river, 1,430 feet distant. A forty horse 
power engine works the steam pump. There are 
two suction pipes 6 inches in diameter ; one with 
Acequia, the other to the river. A 4-inch main 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 97 

carries the water to the Tower, and the tank therein 
can be filled — 6,400 gallons — in 35 minutes. 

The engineer can at all times see an indicator, 
upon the face of the Tower, showing the height 
of water in the tank. 

Elevation of water level in tank above water in 
San Antonio river, at entrance of suction pipe, is 
one hundred and ninety-one (191) feet. 

From the tank in top of Tower, supply pipes 
take the water to hydrants conveniently located at 
various points in the court yard and stables, corral 
and stack yard, and with hose kept always at hand 
the arrangements would seem to afford complete 
protection from danger of fire. 

Two underground cisterns, one in each of the 
rectangular spaces nearest the south front of Depot, 
serve to store rain water falling upon the east, 
west and south fronts, by a system of tin gutters, 
conductors and earthenware drains. Capacity of 
each cistern, 77,000 gallons. A two-inch water 
pipe is laid from the foot of the Tower to flagstaff 
of the National Cemetery south of Depot, distant 
3,117 yards; elevation of ground at foot of Tower 
over that at the flagstaff is 20 feet. 

The suction pipe from pump, house on the 
Acequia to the river is laid over lands belonging 
7 



98 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 

to two citizens, each of whom has granted to the 
United States a free and perpetual right of way for 
the pipe, and the right to maintain and repair it 
whenever necessary ; said grants are in the form 
of deeds of gift, and are duly recorded in the 
records of the county. 

By permission of the city authorities, the pipe 
from the Depot to the National Cemetery is laid 
along streets dividing the city lots between Depot 
grounds and the Cemetery. 

The whole area covered and enclosed by Depot 
buildings, including — 

Sheds , 9.17 acres. 

Area of court 7.39 " 

" covered by store rooms 1.23 " 

" " " shops 6,000 sq. feet. 

" " " sheds 29,904 " 

" (clear) of store room floors 42,630 " 

" " of (2) two cellars 2,306 " 

" concrete floors laid 9,022^ " 

" of wooden floors, store rooms, oflice 

buildings 4>230 " 

Cubical contents storerooms including cellars. 705,140 *' 

Area of whole surface of roofs except Tower. 85,804 " 

Area of roofs measured horizontally in rela- 
tion to rain fall 79,030 " 

Area of court laid out in streets 89,065 j^ " 

Storage capacity for rain water, two cisterns, 

each 77,000 gallons. Total 154,000 gallons. 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 99 

WATER WORKS. 

San Antonio has been supplied with water from 
its foundation by two streams, San Antonio River 
and San Pedro Creek, together with ditches taken 
from each, which irrigate the valley on both sides, 
not only in the city, but for a distance of twenty- 
five miles from the head down. An artificial sys- 
tem of water works was completed last year. 

Powerful machinery, located just below the head 
of the San Antonio River, is driven by two large 
turbine wheels, the power being derived from the 
river ; this is sufficient to force water to every part 
of the city. But besides, on an elevation about 
three hundred feet above the city, an immense 
reservoir has been constructed, and is filled by the 
same power. The spring waters are very pure and 
limpid, are in greatest supply, and the most 
invariable known anywhere on the continent. 

San Antonio may well be proud of the advance- 
ment made in the past year, and particularly as 
being the possessor of a most thorough and com- 
plete system of water works. They are now com- 
plete, in working order, and giving perfect satis- 
faction in every respect. 

The works are a combination of the reservoir 
and direct pressure system ; the reservoir has 



lOO SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 

a capacity of five million gallons, and its elevation 
above the Main Plaza is one hundred and fifty 
feet. 

The total length of the mains now laid is about 
ten miles; and the capacity of the works is between 
two and a half and three million gallons per 
day. 

The building of these works will add much to 
the city's prosperity, in the way of furnishing the 
motive power for the successful running of all 
classes of manufacturing enterprises, and at a small 
cost. 

The water works company was organized by 
one of San Antonio's ablest and most enterprising 
citizens, Mr. J. B. Lacoste, who secured the inter- 
est and co-operation of the well-known bridge 
builders, Messrs. Z. King & Son, of Cleveland, 
Ohio, who entered into the contract to complete 
the works by the ist of July, and w^io filled their 
contract to the letter. 

This firm also displayed their usual enterprise 
and liberality in the undertaking, and confidence 
in the future of San Antonio as well as that of the 
water works, when they accepted the bonds of the 
company in payment therefor. 

The Secretary, Mr. W. R. Freeman, was the 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. lOI 

able engineer of these works, which adds another 
standing monument to his already enviable reputa- 
tion as a superior engineer. 

The Treasurer of the company is Mr. S. A. 
Oliver, a gentleman in every way qualified for the 
position. He is also the local agent of Z. King & 
Son, iron workers and bridge builders; and has 
done much and added not a little to the advance- 
ment of the water works company, and the suc- 
cessful completion of the same. 

THE CHURCHES. 

Religious denominations are : 

Roman Catholic, Irish American. 

'' " Mexican. 

" '' German. 

" " Polish. 

*' " Convent. 

Protestant Episcopal. 
Methodist Episcopal, South. 
'' " North. 

Presbyterian. 
Lutheran. 
German Methodist. 
Episcopal Metiiodist, Colored. 

" '* Mexican. ' 

Baptist. 

** Colored. 



I02 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 

From ^^ Western Texas ^ 

The churches of San Antonio are remarkable for 
their architectural beauty. First stands the old 
Cathedral of San Fernando, founded in 1722, from 
whose dome waved the blood-red flag when the 
Alamo fell. Much of the structure is modern, but 
the dome still surmounts the sacristy — a model of 
venerable beauty.' In the baptistery there stands a 
sculptured font, executed in the days when the 
San Franciscans had possession, and is beautifully 
wrought. 

St. Mary's, the English church, is of composite 
architecture, most of it having been built since the 
war, under the direction of Father Johnson, a priest 
of great learning and urbanity. The reverend father 
is as profound an antiquarian as ever was Monk- 
barns, and delights to revel in the old histories of 
the missions which surround the city. It is to be 
hoped that ere long there will be committed to 
him the pious work of their restoration — a work in 
which he will have the sympathy and assistance of 
Protestants, as well as Catholics, for America has 
too few ruins to afford the loss of one. The Ger- 
man Catholic church is a large and fine structure. 

The appointment of the Right Rev. Dominic 
Pellicier, Bishop of San Antonio, has given the 



I 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. I03 

Catholic Church new 'vigor, and will, without any 
doubt, greatly enhance the religious and civil wel- 
fare of Texas. 

St. Mark's (Episcopal) church is destined to 
exercise a great influence in the change which 
must shortly overtake San Antonio and Western 
Texas The energetic Bishop Elliott, whose home 
is in San Antonio, contemplates, as already stated, 
great things for his diocese ; and among them is 
the organization of St. Mark's on the cathedral 
plan, and the establishment of a fine college at 
San Antonio, to be called in remembrance of that 
man of God who was called home from the floor 
of the General Convention, Rev. Dr. Montgomery. 

These plans will greatly advantage the city, by 
enhancing the beauty of its religious, and improv- 
ing its educational facilities. 

St. Mark's, which has been erected and adorned 
by the untiring efforts and artistic skill of its 
rector, the Rev. Dr. W. R. Richardson, would be 
accounted beautiful and be esteemed an ornament 
in the largest city. It is in all its appointments 
constructed in exquisite taste, and in strict con- 
formity with the traditions of the English Church. 
Each stained window is a memorial offering. 

The ceiling is decorated by the pencil of the 



I04 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 

rector, while the altar cross is delicately carved by 
the pen-knife of the same artist. The bell is rich 
in historic associations, having been cast from 
cannon found near the Alamo. It is more than 
probable that the gun which Travis served now 
proclaims the glad tidings of peace where once 
was raised the red flag of bloody carnage, and that 
the organ of St.* Mark's melodiously proclaims the 
glad tones of gloria in exceisis, where the assassin 
notes of the duello sounded on that dreadful 
Sunday morning. 

The Presbyterian church will be, when com- 
pleted, a fine building. 

The Methodists have a thriving church. 

The Baptist church ministers to a flourishing 
congregation. 

In speaking of the schools. Rev. B. Harris, pastor 
of the M. E. Church South, San Antonio, says: 

"San Antonio is well supplied with schools." 
There is a Roman Catholic College, with a 
spacious building, well furnished and fully offi- 
cered. The average attendance of students is 
about four hundred. The institution enjoys the 
highest degree of prosperity. 

"The Convent of the Ursuline Sisters has an 
average attendance of three hundred and forty 



I06 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 

Students, the patronage from abroad being exten- 
sive. 

''The free schools of the city are thoroughly 
furnished and largely attended. Two new and 
elegant structures of stone are now completed, and 
with a full corps of teachers, free instruction is 
offered to every child within the city limits." 

Mr. Harris then enumerates four private schools, 
which have an average attendance of four hundred 
and nine, and adds that '' there are other private 
schools which are well attended." 

We would state that in all ther6 are fifteen pub- 
lic schools in operation in the city, and that those 
of scholastic age in the county number forty-five 
hundred. 

WATER POWER OF THE SAN ANTONIO RIVER. 

The level of the water surface was taken at differ- 
ent points, indicated by letters A, B, C, D, etc., the 
distance between which can be readily estimated 
with the assistance of the scale. The elevations 
and the fall from point to point are given in the 
table accompanying the sketch. 

This sketch shows also some of the principal 
springs that supply the river. 

The Olmos Creek is a dry stream, so that the 
whole volume of water in the river may be reck- 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. I07 

oned as coming from these springs. The irrigating 
ditches are taken out with sHght falls, and conse- 
quently indicate the contour of the ground and 
the extent of the valley. The point A is at the 
head of the upper Labor Ditch. The water sup- 
ply above this is considered less reliable. From 
A to B, there is now in process of construction a 
canal to conduct the water to the turbines of the 
projected water works. The fall, as shown, is 
6^ feet. 

In the section C D, somewhat over a mile in 
length, there is considerable power, as indicated 
by the fall, 14^^ feet. The thick underbrush 
on one side and cultivated land on the other pre- 
vented our reaching the river with the level be- 
tween these points. Between F and G, in the 
suburbs, is the site of the Alamo Mills, with a 
canal of about one-eight of a mile and a fall of 
about seven feet, which could be considerably in- 
creased. 

After passing this point, the fall of the river is 
slight, until we reach the Mill Bridge in the city, 
near the Lewis Mill. There is a distance across a 
bend, L M, of 650 feet ; we have a fall of 5^^ 
(say 5^) feet. N is just belq^w the dam of 
Guenther's upper mill. This uses two feet at 



I08 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 

present, which could be increased by raising the 
dam. 

O is below Guenther's lower mill, where there 
is a fall of slightly over four feet. When the river 
is high the fall of the lower miil is increased to 
the prejudice of that at the upper — the water 
backing up to the latter. 

In the sections O P and P Q, there is available 
power, and in the last more especially. 

Commencing at Q is the line of a survey for a 
canal or ditch, designed to follow the general con- 
tour of the ground to R. Thence, to the river at 
S, there is a fall of 29^ feet, making a total fall 
from A, near the head of the river, of lo'Jf^j\ 
feet. Further than this, we have made no exami- 
nation. 

The volume of the river, determined by actual 
experiments, is about 16,149 cubic feet per minute, 
equivalent to 30^ horse power for each foot of 
fall. The h. p. for any fall may be found by mul- 
tiplying 30^ by this fall. 

The overflows ^f the San Antonio are occasional 
rather than periodic. They are invariably caused 
by the rising of the Olmos creek, which, draining 
some twelve leagues of land, empties into the San 
Antonio near its head. (See sketch). The plan 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. I09 

of cutting a canal from the Olmos to the Alazan, 
a deep dry creek, about one mile west of the city, 
is, we are convinced, practicable, and not very 
expensive. It is believed that by this plan all the 
water coming down the Olmos, after heavy rains, 
could be taken through the Alazan without detri- 
.ment to property of any description. The river 
rises sometimes, although rarely, from this cause, 
ten to twelve feet. Throwing aside these rises, 
the San Antonio, as it runs through the city, is 
practically an unvarying stream. 

The banks are, in most places, over eight feet 
high, so that it is improbable that valuable lands 
would be injured by back water. 

The building stone of the neighborhood (lime- 
stone) may be called good in a climate where 
there are no severe frosts. The cost of good rub- 
ble masonry is about ^4.25 per j^erch, and that of 
ashlar masonry ^7. 

Most of the sites suitable for factories can be 
purchased. That in the city, near the Lewis Mill 
(L M), is now upon the market. The land below 
the lower mill is believed to be for sale pretty gen- 
erally. The survey for the '* Proposed Ditch " on 
the sketch was made, when the question of locating 
a branch penitentiary at San Antonio was agitated. 



no SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 

This ditch would take the water upon a tract 
of some 300 acres, known as the Cook Tract. 

Supposing the water power and labor problems 
solved satisfactorily, the adaptability of San An- 
tonio to wool manufacturing seems beyond a doubt. 

The quantity of wool coming to this market is 
yearly increasing, and its quality rapidly improving. 

We consider it equally well adapted to the man- 
ufacture of cotton. It is true, but little cotton is 
now sold here. There is, nevertheless, considerable 
raised within easy distance, which goes to Gal- 
veston, being bought on the ground by Galveston 
agents. Much of this, it is thought, would be de- 
livered by the planters themselves anywhere in the 
city or suburbs, at prices slightly below the Gal- 
veston value. Stimulated by a ready market, the 
quantity raised would increase. 

It is the opinion among many of the older resi- 
dents that the Mexican labor, of which there is an 
abundance, is well calculated to meet the require- 
ments of large factories These would need disci- 
pline and skillful management; but it is thought 
they would prove apt and faithful. There are also 
a great many Germans in the city and in the sur- 
rounding country, from whose families factory 
hands might be obtained. 



I 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. Ill 

While we do not regard it certain that any class 
of population is adapted to factory labor, we pre- 
sume that with a healthy climate, a rich surrounding 
country, and a progressive community, San Antonio 
can command immigration to supply any need that 
may arise. 

The local demand for domestic cotton goods is 
large — much being required for the Mexican trade. 

Furthermore, there is a good market here for 
almost all articles of domestic manufacture. 

Irrespective of its advantages as a manufacturing 
point, the future of San Antonio is bright. Its 
climate is healthful and health-giving. Hundreds 
visit it annually to restore broken constitutions. 

And it is the centre of a rich country, gradually 
being appropriated to agricultural and grazing 
purposes, with improved stock and modern ap- 
pliances. 




REFERENCE 
j1— Entrance. 
/?— rrison. 
C Convent. 
i>— Alamo. 
£— Bairacka. 



GROUND PLAN OP THE ALAMO. 



CHAPTER V. 



miscella:n^eous. 




GROUND PLAN OF THE ALAMO. 

HE Chapel of the fortress was seventy-five 
feet long, sixty-two feet wide; and the 
wall, which was of solid masonry, was 
twenty-two feet high, and four feet thick. It was 
originally in one story, but had upper windows, or 
openings, under which platforms were erected for 
mounting cannon. A wall, fifty feet high and four 
feet thick, connected the Alamo with the convent, 
and continued around, enclosing the square of the 
mission, and enclosing also the barracks. The 
barracks and convent were of stone. The former 
was a long, low building, one story, one hundred 
and fourteen feet long, and seventeen feet wide. 
The convent was a two-story building, one hun- 
dred and eighty- six feet long, eighteen feet high, 
and eighteen feet wide. The original walls of this 
house were about thirty inches thick, parts of 
^ ("3) 



114 ^^N ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 

which are still standing. They had at the time 
flat terrace roofs of beams and planks, coated 
thickly with the same kind of cement as that used 
on the roofs of the old missions ; it was solid, hard 
as stone, and entirely impervious to water. The 
barracks have long since disappeared, the '^ mis- 
sion square ' ' has lost its enclosing walls, and the 
space is now a, part of the street. The convent is 
still standing, or a part of it, but the old Spanish 
roof has been replaced by a more modern one. 

From ' ' Western Texas. " 

THE SAN MARCOS RIVER. 

Although not in the immediate vicinity of San 
Antonio, it belongs essentially to it, and we insert 
the poem for that reason, and also for its rare 
beauty. 

The beautiful stream called the San Marcos is in 
the western part of the County, and affords water 
power for any number of mills, which will ere long 
make this a great manufacturing county. . 

Far o'er the hills and toward the dying day, 
Set like a heart, a living heart, deep, deep 
Within the bosom of its wide prairies, 
Lies the Valley of San Marcos. And there, 
A princess roused from slumber by the kiss 
Of balmy Southern skies, the river springs 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. II5 

From out her rocky bed, and hastens on 
Far down the vale, to give her royal hand 
In marriage to the waiting Guadalupe. 

Like some grim giant keeping silent watch, 
While from his feet his recreant daughter flies, 
Above, the hoary mountain stands, his head 
Encircled by an emerald-pointed crown 
Of cedars, strong as those of Lebanon, 
That bow their sombre crests, and woo the wind, 
Drunken with fragrance from the vale below. 
About his brow, set like a dusky chain. 
The mystic Race-Paths run — his amulet — 
And nestled squarely 'gainst his rugged breast, 
Perched quaintly 'mong the great scarred rocks that hang 
Like tombstones on the mountain-side, the nest 
The Falcon built still lingers, though the wing 
That swept the gathering dust from off our shield. 
Hath long since drooped to dust ! 
Now wooed by dusky glooms on either side, 
Now whirling round the craggy banks, now stayed 
By tangled vines that stretch their arms across, 
The river glideth farther from her sire. 
Below, an ancient mill, with laggard wheels, 
Is mirrored in her glassy depths, and broad 
The mill-race reaches out his arms, all decked 
With pebble-stones, and fringed with purple flags, 
And strives to bar her onward course — in vain, 
For, nerved with sudden fear, she springs, and bright 
Her rainbow garments glitter in the sun, 
.•\s on she pants toward the shallow ford. 



Il6 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 

And here, down sloping to the water's marge, 
The fields, all golden with the harvest, come ; 
And here the horseman, reining in his steed 
At eve, will pause and mark the village spires 
Gleam golden in the setting sun, and far 
Across a deeply-furrowed field will glance 
With idle eye upon a stately hill. 
That, girt with cedars, rises like a king. 
To mark the further limit of the field. 
'Twas there, between the hill and river, stood 
A shaded cottage ; and its roof was low 
And dark, and vines that twined the porch but served 
To hide the bleakness of its wall. But then 
'Twas home, and ^'■Heaven is near us in our childhood^'' 
And I was but a child ; and summer days. 
That since have oftentimes seemed long and sad, 
Were fleeter then than even the morning winds 
That sent my brother's fairy bark, well balanced, 
In safety down the river's tide. Alas ! 
Is there, can there be aught in all the world 
To soothe the sick soul to such perfect rest 
As filled its early dreams ? Is there no fount, 
Like that of old so madly sought by Leon, 
Where the worn soul may bathe and rise renewed ? 

And u'-> and down the banks before our door. 
Now gathering up the yellow lily-buds. 
That lay like golden flagons on the stream. 
Now idly bending down the ragged sedge 
That rustled in the lazy summer breeze, 
And now among the grape-vines, where they hung 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. II7 

In light festoons above the water-edge, 
With careless step I roamed. 

Well I remember, 
Down where the river makes a sudden bend, 
Below the ford, and near the dusky road, 
Upon her bosom sleeps a fairy isle, 
Enwreathed about with snowy alder-boughs 
And tapestried with vines that bore a flower 
Whose petals looked like drops of blood 
(We called it " Lady of the Bleeding Heart"). 
And through it wandered little careless paths, 
That writhed like wounded snakes among the buds 
Of tufted grass; and o'er this living gem 
The very skies seemed bluer, and the waves. 
That rippled round it, threw up brighter spray. 
Upon the banks for hours I've stood and longed 
To bask amid its shades ; and when at last 
My brother dragged, with wondrous care, his boat. 
Rude-fashioned, small, and furnished with one oar. 
Across the long slope from the stately hill 
Where it was built, ne'er did Columbus' heart 
Beat with a throb so wild upon that shore. 
Unknown to any save to him, as ours 
When, with o'erwearied hands and labored breath, 
We steered in safety o'er the dangerous way, 
And stood the monarchs of that fair realm ! 
My brother, how I wish our wayward feet 
Once more could feel that lordly pride — our hearts 
Once more know all their cravings satisfied ! 



Il8 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 

Sweet valley of San Marcos ! few are the years 
That since have linked their golden hands and fled 
Like spirits down the valley of the past — 
And yet it seems a weary time to me ! 
Sweet River of San Marcos ! the openings seen 
Between thy moss-hung trees, like golden paths 
Th<^t lead through Eden to heaven's fairer fields, 
Show glimpses of the broad, free, boundless plains 
Ihat circle thee around. Thine own prairies 1 
How my sad spirit would exult to bathe 
Its wings, all heavy with the dust of care. 
Deep in their glowing beauty ! How my heart, 
O'ershadowed with this cloud of gloom, would wake 
To life anew beneath those summer skies ! 

My home is nestled now among the hills, 
The wooded hills, like those of that fair State, 
That queen among the daughters of the South, 
That gave me birth ; and gaily flits the breeze 
Among the boughs of oaks whose trunks 
Are wedded with the rings of centuries : 
And maples, clothed like princes, wave their flags 
Above the serried armies of the fern, 
That march along the forest stream, where low 
The beeches sweep their brightly-gleaming leaves; 
And one tall pine, a sentinel, keeps watch 
Before my very door. 

The trees, the forest trees ! My heart beats full 
And high beneath their stately limbs ! And yet, 
At times methinks our mountain air seems thick ; 
And the green tresses of our forest trees, 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. II9 

They choke my very breathing ! Then, then 
I fam would spurn my native shades, and fain 
Would sweep with untamed wing across the broad 
And boundless prairies of the West, and breathe 
ISIy freedom back beneath unshadowed skies ! 

Oh, river of my childhood ! fair Valley Queen ! 
Within thy bosom yet at morn the sun 
Dips deep his silver beams, and on thy tide 
At night, the stars, the yellow stars, are mirrored ; 
Through emerald marshes yet thine eddies curl, 
And yet that fairy isle in beauty sleeps 
(Like her of old who waits the wakening kiss 
Of some true knight to break her magic sleep). 
And yet, heavy with purple cups, the flags 
Droop down toward the mill ; but I — oh, I 
No more will wander by thy shores, nor float 
At twilight down thy glassy tide ! — no more. 
And yet, San Marcos, when some river flower, 
All swooning with its nectar-drops, is laid 
Before my eyes, its beauty scarce is seen 
For tears which stain my eyelids, and for dreams 
Which glide before me of thy fairy charms. 
And swell my heart with longing. 

Sweet River of San Marcos ! 

THF. WATER POWER OF WESTERN TEXAS. 

While Western Texas is comparatively a dry 
country, and has a reputation in this regard far 
beyond the reality, yet it has some of the finest 
and most permanent streams to be found any- 



I20 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 

where. At the base of the mountains running 
across Texas from southwest to northeast, begin- 
ning about Lampasas and Salado in Bell county, 
there is a series of springs of a magnificent charac- 
ter, extending at intervals to San Antonio. The 
Lampasas and Salado springs form streams on 
which there is valuable water power. They are, 
however, by no means equal to the very large 
springs of San Marcos, Comal and San Antonio. 
At each of these points vast volumes of water gush 
out from various places, forming rivers large 
enough to float a steamboat. 

At the head of the San Marcos river there is 
sufficient fall to command an immense power for 
propelling machinery. All along down that stream 
for fifteen or twenty miles, at intervals of two 
or three miles, there are fine sites for mills. 
The amount of water is ample to carry on very 
large factories ; so that we may expect that river to 
be studded with large manufacturing towns, from 
its source down pretty nearly to its junction with 
the Guadalupe. 

The Comal spring, on the Guadalupe, near New 
Braunfels, is a vast volume of water. It is about 
three miles from its source to its entrance into the 
river. The two form a body of water several times 
larger than the San Marcos. 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 121 

A little above the town of Braunfels a fall is 
obtained of about fifteen feet, by simply turning 
the water out of the bed of the stream by a brush 
dam, which causes the water to flow in a natural 
race or canal ; conducting it to a dry creek, and 
forming a natural outlet for the water into the 
river again. At this point, with a head of fifteen 
feet, which might be increased by elevating the 
dam, there is a saw mill and grist mill, and one or 
two cotton gins. At this site power sufficient can 
be had to propel machinery for vast factories. 

Between that point and the Guadalupe there is 
a fall of sixteen feet or more. Mr. Torrey, at his 
mill and factory, has a fall of about eight feet. 
When all of his works were in motion he used 
comparatively a small part of the water. 

On the San Antonio, beginning at Goliad, quite 
up to the city of San Antonio, there are frequent 
shoals and falls, rendering the w-ater of that river 
available as a propelling power. I shall only 
speak particularly of the falls at Marcelena and 
Conquista, as I have not examined the other 
places. Marcelena and Conquista are some fifteen 
miles above Helena, in Karnes county, and about 
fifteen miles below San Antonio. In a space of 
two or three miles, the river has a fall of about 



122 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 



thirty-two or thirty-three feet. There are three 
falls, with some rapids between. The first is at the 
Conquista crossing of the river. It is not a per- 
pendicular fall, but a gradual slope over a bed of 
rock for a hundred or a hundred and fifty yards, 
in which the water falls about ten feet. A dam of 
ten feet at the beginning of the fall would give a 
head of about twenty feet. There is plenty of 
suitable rock', of any desired size, for building 
such a dam at the spot, so that the expense would 
not be very great. 

CLIMATOLOGY OF WESTERN TEXAS. 

The seasons, as shown by the leafing and flowering of plants — as ob- 
served by Prof. C. G. Forshey, in Fayette County. 



> 


BOTANIC NAME. 

/Esculus Texanus.. 
Agrostis Stellata.... 


COMMON NAME. 


LEAFING. 


FLOWERING. 


1858 

i8s8 


Dwarf Bucke\'e.. 
Wild Leek 


March 13... 


March 18. 
March 15. 


1859 






February 25. 
February 17. 


■ 






i860 


Avena Sativa 


Oats 

India Rubber.... 

Black Hickory... 

Hackberry 

Swamp Dogw'd. 


April 10 

April I 
Feb'y 27 
April 28 


1858 
1858 
1858 
1859 
i860 


Bumelia (?) 

Carya Orliviformis. 
Celtis Crassifolia.... 
Cornus Paniculata. 


June 10. 

May 20. 

April 23. 
March 10. 
M.ay 18, 25. 


;hS 


Cornus Florida 

Crataegus Col 


Upl'nd Dog'wd. 

Thorn (red ber- 

. [ries 


March 6.... 
March 10... 
Feb'y 20 
Feb'y....... 


1859 
i860 




Draba Cuneifol 


White Draba 


February 15. 
February i. 
February 12. 
Jan'y and Feb. 
February 13. 
February 4. 









1858 
1859 
i860 


Houstonia Cerulea. 


Bluets 


January .... 










1858 


Inglaus Pecan 






18S9 




April 10-15 April 10, 15. 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 



^25 



BOTANIC NAM K. i COMMON NAME. I LEAFING. 



Krigia Dandelion... 
Lupinus (?) 



Oxalis Stricta 

Poa (various kinds) 
858 Primulse 

859J 

860 

858 Phlox (?) 

S59 
860 



. I March 



Dandelion 

Purple Lupines.. 



Sheep Sorrel. 

Grasses 

Primroses .... 



February... 
March 2..., 

Winter 

March i 
February.., 



FLOWERING. 



April 15, 30. 
Feb. 28, Mar. 20. 
Mar. 15, May i. 
Mar. 20, Ap. 20. 
Mar. I, 20. 



859 Pisum(?) jWildPea,purpl 

858 Prunus Amer Wild Plum jMarch 



859' 



Mar. 18, May 10. 

Feb. 28, Mar. 19. 

Mar. 31, May 2. 

Woods Phlox.... -.Mar. 12. 

I SFeb. 26, Mar. 19. 

March 7. 

March 5, 20. 

March i, 10. 



[Feb'y 15.... Feb. 12, 23. 



ol , I Feoruary... Feb. 18,29, 

858 Persica vulg jPeach Tree Feb'y 20.... [Feb. li. Mar 

859! i 

860' .1 

858 Quercus ObtusilobalPost Oak March 15 

859! ! 

86o| I ! 



15. 



Quercus Nigra. 



Quercus Virens. 



Black Jack.. 



Live Oak. 



Quercus Palustris... Pin Oak..., 
Rubus Trivialis 'Dewberry 



859 Secale cereale IRye 



859|Taraxicum iDandelion 

860 [dest , .... 

859 Tillandsia Usneoi-'L'g Gray Moss 



86o|Triticum /Estivum., 
859[Triticum Compos... 
858 Ulmus Amer 



Wheat. 

Linden 

American Elm. 



859; 

86o!Ulmus Alata 'Flat Limb. 

8:;9 Vitis Teanua (?) IMustang Grape.. 

860' i 

859iVioia (?) jWild Violets 

859|Viburnum prun 'Black Haw 

860! I 

859 Yucca (Mexicana?). Spanish Dagger. 

860 I 



March 10... 
Feb'y 24.... 



March 



Feb'y 24. 

Feb'y "is." 



Feb'y 25. 
Feb'y 25. 



Feb'y 20... 
March 6... 
Feb'y 23... 
Feb'y 24... 



Feb'y 21... 
Feb'y 24.... 



Feb. 5, 20. 
Feb. 20. 
March 8. 
Feb. 24, Mar. 10 
March 7. 
March 15. 
Feb 21. 
March i. 
'Mar. 20, Ap. 10. 
Mar. 6, 25. 
March 13. 
Feb. 26, 28. 
March i, 27. 
March 10, 20. 
Feb. 26, 28. 
March 31. 
iSL-ir. 6, April 6. 
April 10. 
April 7. 
March 5. 
May ID. 
May 5. 
April ID, 25. 
February 20. 
March 6. 
February 23. 
Mar. 25, Ap. 20. 
Mar. 24, Ap. 4. 
February 21. 
Mar. 6, 10. 
March 23. 
March 6. 
March 2. 



124 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 

STORMING OF THE ALAMO. 

From ''New York Worlds 

Santa Anna halted a day on the west bank of 
the Medina river, where he received accurate 
information as to the strength of the Americans in 
San Antonio. A sudden rain-storm and "norther" 
made the river impassable. Next day he resumed 
the march, General Mora in advance, with orders 
to seize the mission of Concepcion — a massive 
stone structure two miles below San Antonio 
— deemed by Santa Anna a more defensible 
stronghold than the Alamo. A cannon shot was 
fired when the head of the advancing column 
reached the cemetery. The town was not de- 
fended, and Colonel Mora was ordered to take 
position north and east of the Alamo, to prevent 
the escape of the garrison. This was late in Feb- 
ruary, 1836. Santa Anna led four thousand men, 
and awaited the coming of General Talza with two 
thousand more. A battalion crossed the San 
Antonio river and took possession of houses below 
the Alamo, in order to build a bridge across the 
river. Thirty men of two companies, sent the next 
day to make a reconnoisance, were killed. A light 
earth- work was thrown up above the Alamo. The 
firing from the fort, now invested, was ceaseless. 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 1 25 

An earth-work nearer the fort was constructed at 
night. On the third day of March General Talza 
arrived, and the plan of assault was defined and 
made known to the division commanders. On 
the 5th of March, scaling ladders were distributed. 
At three o'clock on the morning of the 6th, ever 
memorable in song and story, the battalion Mata- 
moras was moved to a point nearer the river and 
above the Alamo. They were supported by two 
thousand men under General Cos, this wing of the 
army being commanded by General Castrilion, 
General Talza leading that below the Alamo. 

Santa Anna spent the night in the eartli-work 
near the Alamo. The whole force was to move 
silently upon the fortress at the sound of the 
bugle, and were not to fire until in the trenches of 
the Texans. The sound of the bugle was heard 
at four o'clock. General Castrilion's division, 
after an hour's desperate fighting, repulses, and 
unheard-of losses, succeeded in effecting an en- 
trance into the upper part of the Alamo, in a sort 
of out-work, now a court-yard. The fighting had 
only begun. The windows and doors were barri- 
caded and guarded by bags of dirt heaped up as 
high as a man's shoulders, while on the roof were 
rows of bags of dirt behind which the Texans 



126 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 

fous^ht as never men fousrht before, muzzle to 
muzzle — hand to hand Each Texan rifle-shot 
exhausted its force and spent itself in successive 
bodies of Mexicans packed together like a wall of 
flesh. Muskets and rifles were clubbed, and bowie- 
knives never wrought such fearful carnage. The 
ceaseless crash of firearms, the shouts of the defi- 
ant, desperate, beleaguered Texans, the shrieks of 
the dying, made the din infernal, and the scene 
indescribable in its sublime terrors. 

Each room in the building was the scene of a 
terrible struggle with fearless men driven to 
desperation, and conscious that escape was impossi- 
ble. They fought even when stricken down, and 
when dying still struggled, not with death, but to 
slay Mexicans. In the long room used as a hos- 
pital, the sick and wounded fired pistols and rifles 
from their pallets. A piece of artillery, supposed 
to be that which Crockett used during the siege, 
was shotted with grape and canister, and turned 
upon the helpless occupants of this apartment. 
After the explosion, the Mexicans entered and 
found the emaciated bodies of fourteen men, torn 
and rent, and blackened and bloody. Forty-two 
dead Mexicans lay at the doorway of this room. 
Bowie, whose name tells of his feartul knife and 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 



27 



deeds, lay stark and stiff on a cot in the room. 
He was helpless and in bed when the place was 
invested, ten days before. Eleven Texans fired 
with terrible effect from the roof of the building, 
where they used three or four pieces, which they 
charged with nails and pieces of iron. Buerra 
gives his peculiar version of the story affecting the 
death of Travis and Crockett. These two were 
found living, yet exhausted by fighting, and lying 
among the dead. When Travis was discovered 
he gave gold to a Mexican, and while conversing 
with him Gen. Cos, with whom Travis had dealt 
most generously when San Antonio was captured 
by the Americans, appeared. Cos embraced 
Travis, and induced other officers to join him in 
asking Santa Anna to spare Travis' life. The 
President-General sternly refused. Then Crockett, 
from among the dead, stood up utterly exhausted 
by weary, sleepless days and nights, and by five 
hours' constant fighting. Santa Anna was enraged 
beyond measure that his orders were not executed. 
He directed the soldiers near him to fire on the 
two Texans. Travis was shot first in the back. 
He folded his arms across his breast, and stood 
stiffly erect till a bullet pierced his neck. He fell 
upon his face, while Crockett's body was riddled 



128 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 

with bullets. The corpses of two thousand Mexi- 
cans were buried; those of the dead Americans 
were gathered and burned, a holocaust whose fires 
lighted the way to the freedom of Texas. 

THE CITY OF SAN ANTONIO. 

Froui ^^San Anto7iio Herald'^ 

Any one who will reflect upon the resources of 
the region that is now, and that which may be 
made tributary to San Antonio, cannot but be 
convinced of the great future that awaits it, pro- 
vided the people are alive to the necessities 
required. It possesses an area of surrounding 
country capable of ministering to and supplying 
the wants of a large population. 

The food-producing capacity of Western Texas 
is superior for the growth of wheat, barley, oats, 
corn, and all kinds of vegetables, as well as the 
varieties of semi-tropical fruits and sugar. Of 
animal food there is a superabundance, of the best 
character and at the lowest prices. Cattle and 
sheep swarm over our prairies in vast numbers, 
and will ever exist to supply the markets of the 
constantly increasing people. Horses, mules, 
oxen, and swine exist in large numbers \ and rap- 
idly as population may increase in our great pas- 
toral region, these products must increase in a 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 1 29 

Still vaster proportion. These are articles of 
prime necessity in supporting the dense population 
of a city. 

But having provided for food, there are other 
wants not less essential, — clothing. The principal 
materials of which to make clothing are wool, 
cotton, linen, and leather ; now we all know 
that these are severally produced in Western Texas, 
in and adjacent to San Antonio and to the food- 
producing regions — the best in quality, and the 
cheapest in price. In addition to these advant- 
ages, great and vast as they are, our city possesses, 
in her river, a water power for driving machinery 
unsurpassed by any other locality in the United 
States. And yet manufactures have yet to be devel- 
oped in our midst, and upon their establishment, 
in reality, depends our great future. It is 
almost an act of supererogation to enumerate 
among the requisites for a high state of civiliza- 
tion an inexhaustible supply of building material, 
in which we are rich indeed. Possessing in 
such superabundance all the essential requisites for 
a large and manufacturing community, what can 
prevent its establishment and growth among us? 
For in addition we have a world-renowned climate, 
balmy and healthful. We lack, confessedly, popu- 
9 



l^O SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 

lation and capital. Population we are beginning 
to receive, and, with the increase of railroads, 
doubtless capital will flow in upon us. Manufac- 
tures, heretofore, have not been established because 
of the difficulty of transportation, want of markets, 
etc. We have one railroad, whose existence here 
we hail as the harbinger of others; and we earn- 
estly hope that our city will now press forward her 
commercial interests to a larger extent, and at the 
same time successfully establish the manufacturing 
interests, the raw material of which we have in 
such profusion all around us. There is no antag- 
onism between commerce and the mechanic arts — 
there could be none ; they are the offspring of 
industry and intelligence, and are alike dependent 
on each other for prosperity. San Antonio is 
remarkable for its location ; it is a salient point in 
a military, as well as in a commercial point of 
view. Its prosperity hitherto has arisen from 
these two combinations, and it requires but the 
introduction and establishment of the third inter- 
est, the cheap power which nature has lavished 
upon us unsparingly, to place us beyond all 
those contingencies that sometimes befall com- 
mercial cities, and put our growth and prosper- 
ity beyond all peradventure. Elevated as she 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. I3I 

is above the malarial region of the coast range, 
about one hundred and forty miles from shipping, 
railroads already bring us into rapid communica- 
tion with the several shipping ports on the Gulf, 
and those communications, likely to increase in 
number from year to year, make our queen city 
one of the most favored spots upon the wide earth. 
Nowhere else are these advantages concentrated 
in a single city. We are so favorably situated, that 
a strict adherence to the rules of economy admits 
of the union of commerce and manufactures, and 
will aid them to develop in equally rapid progress. 
We assume this result, because it is an axiom of 
political economy that the first essential work of 
any productive people is markets whereat to dis- 
pose of their products ; and to have markets you 
must have population — to command permanent 
population, you must have manufactures. With 
manufactures and population, value is added 
to lands and property of every kind, and be- 
comes, of course, one of the principal sources 
and causes of wealth. And why? Because it 
creates a market by causing a demand for property 
and products, enhancing their price and exchange- 
able value, rewards the producer for his industry, 
and encourages and increases industry and pro- 



132 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 

duction. Again, commerce frequently changes 
from one city to another — manufactures do not. 
Hence it is to our interest to invite population 
among us by using every exertion to establish 
manufactories for cotton, wool, leather, and of 
linen, so that we can acquire the necessary popu- 
lation to create a market for our food production, 
and our raw material for manufactures, of which 
the cereals would become a very prominent export, 
whether Galveston or New Orleans becomes the 
great grain mart of the Gulf. We earnestly en- 
treat our people to give the subject of manufactures 
their serious consideration ; certainly no people 
under heaven have been more bountifully endowed 
than the people of Western Texas, and especially 
those of San Antonio. 

From '■^ Baker' s Scrap Book.''^ 

ANECDOTE OF GENERAL HOUSTON. 

In the year i860, while Houston was Governor 
of Texas, an expedition was fitted out for frontier 
protection. In the purchase of medical supplies 
the Governor had given strict orders that no 
liquor should be included, under penalty of his 
serious displeasure. In the requisition for medical 
stores made by Dr. T., surgeon of the regiment, 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 1 33 

were included Spts. Vini Gallici, bottles 24. This 
was duly furnished with the other articles, and the 
bill was taken to General Houston for his approval. 
The old gentleman settled his spectacles upon his 
nose, and, gravely putting his eagle quill pen 
behind his ear, read the bill through slowly and 
carefully until he came, to the item in question, 
when he turned to the druggist and said, "Mr. B., 
what is this Spts. Vini Gallici?" "That, Gen- 
eral, is brandy." "Ah, yes; and do you know 
that I have given positive orders that no liquor 
should be furnished for this expedition ?" "No, 
General, I was not aware of it!" The General 
rang his bell. "Call Dr. T." The doctor was 
summoned. "Dr. T., what is this Spts. Vini 
Gallici for?" "That, Governor, is for snake 
bites." Appealing to the druggist, the Governor 
continued, "Mr. B., is Spts. Vini Gallici good 
for snake bites ! " " Yes, sir, it is so considered." 
"Yes," replied General Houston, in slow and 
measured tones, "and there is Dr. T., who would 
cheerfully consent to be bitten by a rattlesnake 
every morning before breakfast, so as to obtain a 
drink of this Spts. Vini Gallici." Having thus 
delivered himself, he approved the account. 



134 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 

SAM Houston's exile — explained after many 

YEARS. 
THE MYSTERY MADE CLEAR IN A LETTER FROM THE REV. 
DR. SAMSON, EX-PRESIDENT OF THE COLUMBIAN UNIVER- 
SITY, AND GENERAL HOUSTON'S OLD PASTOR — WHY HE 
ABANDONED HIS WIFE, HIS OFFICE, AND CIVILIZATION. 

To the Editor of the Tribune. 

Sir: The St. Louis Globe-Democrat published 
some weeks since a private letter of President 
Jackson to General Sam Houston, dated Washing- 
ton, D. C, June 21, 1829, preserved by an old 
Texan, a former friend of Houston's, which has 
more than a personal history attached to it. 
President Jackson recalls his delightful meeting 
with his friend one year before, when, as Gover- 
nor of Tennessee, he was *' about to be united to a 
beautiful young lady of accomplished manners and 
of respectable connections." As to his sudden 
determination to " settle with the Indians and 
become a savage," he exclaims: ''Surely it is a 
dream," and he hints that though now addressed 
at the Cherokee Agency, Territory of Arkansas, 
his intention is to found in Texas a Southwestern 
Empire, reviving thus a scheme of other men in 
earlier times. 

The Globe-T)e?nocrat alludes to Houston's act, 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS, 1 35 

which called out this letter from his old friend, as 
" one of the most singular and utterly unexplained 
acts ever connected with General Houston or any- 
other great historical character." As the true 
explanation has since his death been made known 
by his widow to those specially intrusted with 
the preparation of his memoirs, the publication 
of which is perhaps now indefinitely postponed, 
justice to truth and to Houston's memory as a 
model of true loyalty seems to demand the follow- 
ing statement of the proofs of that loyalty : 

As pastor of Senator Houston from 1845 ^^ 
1861, intimate with all his private thoughts as 
well as his public life, the writer, when requested 
to contribute to the proposed memoir, was made 
acquainted with the fact of his marriage wound — 
keener and more lasting than that of the poisoned 
Indian arrow, whose festering he used sometimes 
to show to his friends. The attestation of his 
loyalty in all other relations, heard often from his 
own lips and read in unmistakable acts, is in per- 
fect accord with the authentic facts of history, 
which any reader can verify even in brief encyclo- 
paedia notices. There is not a particle of evidence 
in any preserved record which indicates a laint of 
disloyalty in any relation. 



lT,b SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 

Born in Virginia in 1793, left an orphan in 
boyhood, Sam Houston went with his mother to 
Tennessee, where he supported her by his own 
industry, thus early learning family loyalty. 

In 18 1 3, at the age of twenty, he enlisted under 
General Jackson in the Creek war, and, for his 
repeated deeds of gallantry, he so gained the 
esteem of Jackson, that he urged him to remain 
permanently in the army. Resigning, however, 
and studying law in Nashville, he rose from oftice 
to office, and in 1823, at the age of thirty, he was 
elected to Congress, and then again, in 1827, was 
elected Governor of Tennessee. 

Up to this time, Houston was unmarried. Uni- 
versally admired, and urged by associates to form 
an alliance which seemed essential to his station, 
a young lady of beauty and accomplishments was 
commended to him by family influence. His pro- 
posal of marriage was accepted, and, late in 1828, 
the marriage ceremony was performed with unusual 
pomp. The next day Houston resigned his office, 
crossed the Mississippi into Arkansas, and, Decem- 
ber II, 1828, wrote from the agency of his old 
Cherokee acquaintances, the letter to President 
Jackson which called forth his letter of January 
21, 1829. 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 1 37 

No one of Houston's companions knew till his 
death the cause of his new course, which his best 
friends, like Jackson, regarded as partial insanity ; 
no one but his widow could reveal it, and she only 
through a sense of conjugal and Christian duty. 
That cause was the highest test of loyalty of which 
any man could be capable. 

On the eve of marriage. Governor Houston 
observed a tremor in the voice and in the hand of 
his bride, when the vow of undivided attachment 
was pronounced, which convinced him some secret 
had not been revealed to him. Before retiring, 
he frankly told her of his suspicion, asked a frank 
confession, and pledged her that it should not work 
her injury.* 

His frankness and firmness led to the confession 
that her affections had been given and pledged to 
another before their meeting, and that filial duty 
had prompted her acceptance of his proffer. 
Houston retired to his own cot, next day resigned 
his position, allowed the entire fault to appear to 
be his, permitted and encouraged her application 
for a divorce on the plea of desertion, and his 

*A11 writers who have mentioned the nnysterious and sudden 
departure of Gen. Houston before Dr. Sampson, have spoken 
of some considerable time, some months, passed with his wife. 



138 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 

bride was married to the man of her former affec- 
tion. 

Many irregularities, rumors of course, were 
charged on this man who had really sacrificed 
everything to save one who had erred only in 
mistaken duty ; but no charge of domestic infidel- 
ity could be true in a man who denied it to the 
estimable lady who afterwards became his wife. 

The suggestion of ambitious designs, naturally 
assumed as true by Jackson, was disproved by 
facts known to history. One year after that letter 
was written, Houston was the chosen representa- 
tive of the Cherokees at Washington. It was on a 
visit to Texas a year or two later that Houston 
was drawn into Texan affairs. The large Connec- 
ticut colony induced to go into Texas in 1820 had 
been, in violation of Santa Anna's promises, in 
1830, incorporated into the neighboring Mexican 
province of Coahuila, and thus subjected to Mexi- 
can law and government. These Americans in 
Texas, with loyal intent, thereupon organized a 
distinct province, and they elected Houston as 
their delegate to the Convention that had been 
called to revise the Mexican Constitution, which, 
in 1824, had borrowed largely from that of the 
United States. 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 1 39 

The colonists had increased in number to 20,000 
when Houston became their delegate. The crafty 
Santa Anna, after repeated efforts for peace, did 
not begin hostilities until 1835. Though superior 
in ability, Houston did not become commander- 
in-chief till the post was resigned by Colonel S. F. 
Austin, the son of the first colonist, in the autumn 
of 1835. Houston's clemency to Santa Anna after 
the massacres he had perpetrated was loyalty to 
the rules of war. 

During the eight years, from 1837 to 1845, ^^ 
Texan independence, Houston was faithful to 
every obligation of life. It was during this period 
that he obtained a divorce from the Legislature of 
the State of which he was President, and married 
one of the most accomplished and devout of Chris- 
tian women, who, with a large family of children, 
survives him. When, at last, annexation could be 
effected, instead of aiming at independent empire, 
Houston promoted to the utmost the annexation 
of the State of which he had been the father. 

In Washington, as Senator from 1845 ^^ 1861, 
no truer statesman than Sam Houston sat in the 
Capitol. In social relations, no sign of vice ap- 
peared; for he was of the Roman stamp, so honored 
recently by the Tribune as a type of the Republi- 



I40 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 

can leaders of France. Though unable to bring 
his family to the Capital, they were always in his 
thought. He spent Sunday afternoon in writing 
to them ; and he ever spoke in all company of the 
fact that to his wife he was indebted for his chief 
honor and happiness. 

From his coming to Washington, his seat was 
never vacant in the place of worship ; he often 
referred to a* discourse on the words, ''Better is 
he that ruleth his own spirit than he that taketh a 
city," as the religious crisis of his life; he rose 
above the two-fold conviction which restrained 
most public men from a public profession of Chris- 
tian faith, namely, the suspicion of hypocrisy and 
of sectarianism, and was baptized when at the very 
height of his political expectations. 

When secession and the war following it came, 
Sam Houston was almost alone in opposing it, in 
open words and in direct acts. When in varied 
companies the remark was dropped that Lincoln 
would not be peaceably inaugurated, Houston 
firmly said : *' The man that attempts to prevent it 
shall walk over my dead body!" True to his 
word, when on the day of inauguration videttes 
were at every street corner where the procession 
was to pass, close up to the left side of the carriage 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. I4I 

in which Lincohi sat with Buchanan on his right, 
the tall form of Houston, mounted and armed, was 
seen throughout the whole route, pressing so closely 
up to the wheels that no man could have passed 
between. 

Such a record should set aside any suspicion 
that Houston was not in every relation a model of 
loyalty. Retiring to the bosom of his family, he 
lived two years in yet another political exile ; but 
adored in his family, and not "an alien from the 
commonwealth of the redeemed." 

George W. Samson. 

New York, November 5, 1880. 

Froin Texas Scrap Book. 

THE MASSACRE OF FANNIN. 
BY ONE who escaped. 

In March, 1836, Colonel J. W. Fannin, with 
between five and six hundred men, occupied the 
town of Goliad on the San Antonio river. While 
there, he detached Captain King with a small 
company of men, to occupy the old mission of 
Refugio, about twenty-five miles distant. King, 
after taking possession of the fortress, found him- 
self threatened by a large force of Mexicans, and 
sent an express to Fannin for aid. Accordingly, 



142 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 

Colonel Ward, with one hundred and twenty-live 
men, were sent to his relief. Having arrived at 
Refugio, King insisted upon taking command of 
the whole force, but the men declared themselves 
in favor of serving under Colonel Ward, who was 
lieutenant-colonel of the regiment. Captain King 
then withdrew, with his original company of 
twenty-eight, men, and they were almost immedi- 
ately afterward surprised and killed ; the Mexican 
forces then attacked Ward and his men in the 
mission, and after a sanguinary fight, which lasted 
nearly all day, were repulsed with heavy loss. 
Meantime, orders were received from Colonel 
Fannin to join him and his command at Victoria, 
and the line of march for that place was taken up 
at night. But Fannin and his men, having set 
out for Victoria, were intercepted, and after a 
bloody battle were captured and taken back to 
Goliad. Ward and his detachments, when they 
arrived at Victoria, instead of finding their coun- 
trymen, found the place occupied by a large force 
of Mexicans, and retreated ; but next day were 
surrounded and taken prisoners by the enemy 
under command of General Urrea. They were 
then taken to Goliad, where they found their brave 
fellow-captives, numbering in all four hundred and 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 1 43 

eighty men. On the morning of the 27th of 
March, in defiance of the terms of surrender, 
which were that they should be held honorably as 
prisoners of war until exchanged, the whole com- 
pany of Texans were marshaled in line and 
counted into four divisions of one hundred and 
twenty men each. Each division was then placed 
in charge of a strong guard, and ordered to march 
in different directions from the fort, for what pur- 
pose the prisoners could only guess. "When about 
half a mile from the fort," says our informant, 
"we were ordered to halt; the guard was then 
halted, and ordered by the captain to face to the 
right, and then, almost instantly, to fire. The 
horrible order was promptly complied with, and 
nearly all of our brave boys fell in death. A few, 
myself among the number, made a desperate run 
for life, and by concealing ourselves in the grass 
and reeds, finally got away. The men having 
been shot, the officers, who had been reserved 
until the last, met the same tragic fate. Colonel 
Ward, having refused to kneel, was shot as he 
stood ; and Colonel Fannin, having left his effects, 
together with his dying request, with the officer in 
command, calmly seated himself in a chair, and 
awaited his death. Of the whole number who 



144 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 

were marched out for slaughter on that memorable 
Sunday, fifty-five only escaped." 

From the Official Report of General H. D. Mc- 

Leod. 

COMANCHE FIGHT AT SAN ANTONIO. 

On the Tpth day of March, 1840, sixty-five 
Comanches, including warriors, women, and 
children, came, by previous appointment, to San 
Antonio to treat for peace. The meeting had 
been agreed upon a month before, and the Indians 
had promised to bring in thirteen white persons, 
whom they held as hostages. They, however, 
brought but one, a daughter of Mr. Lockhart. 

Twelve chiefs, leaders of the deputation, were 
met by our commissioners. Colonel W. G. Cooke 
and General H. D. McLeod, in the Government 
House, as it was called, and the question was at 
once put to them, " Where are the prisoners you 
were to bring?" Mukwarrah, the chief who 
had made the promise at the former talk, replied, 
''We have brought the only one we had." This 
was known to be false, from the girl's statement. 
She said that she had seen several prisoners at the 
camp a few days before, and that the intention was 
to get a high ransom for her, and then for each of 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 1 45 

the others, bringing them one by one. A pause 
ensued, after which the chief asked, '' How do 
you like my answer ? ' ' No reply was made, but 
an order was sent to a company of soldiers to 
advance into the room. 

Meantime, the terms were explained to the 
chief, which would have been agreed to in case 
they had complied with their engagements. The 
soldiers, under Captain Howard, entered the room, 
the chiefs were told they were prisoners until they 
sent for and brought in the rest of the white cap- 
tives. As the commissioners were retiring from 
the room, one of the chiefs attempted to escape 
by leaping past the sentinel, who, in attempting to 
prevent him, was stabbed by the Indian. Captain 
Howard was also severely wounded in a similar 
manner. The rest of the braves drew their bows 
and arrows and knives, and made a general attack. 
The soldiers fired and killed the twelve chiefs. 
The warriors in the yard fought with desperation, 
but were soon repulsed by Captain Read's com- 
pany. A portion of them retreated across the 
river, but were pursued, and finally all killed. 
The Indian women fought desperately, and several 
of them were killed. The loss of the Indians was 

thirty-two chiefs and warriors, three women, and 
10 



146 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 

two children ; twenty-seven women and children, 
and two old men, were made prisoners. Our loss 
was seven killed and eight wounded. 

Fro?n ^^ Field' s Scrap Book.'' 

THE BABE OF THE ALAMO. 

The beautiful remarks below are extracted from 
speeches delivered in the House of Representatives 
of Texas, on a bill proposing a donation to the 
daughter of Almiran Dickenson, one of the mar- 
tyrs who fell at the Alamo in the beginning of the 
Texas revolution : 

History will never record a nobler deed, a more 
daring stand, a purer, self-sacrificing devotion to 
the interests and liberties of their adopted country, 
than the fight and fall of Travis, Bowie, Crockett, 
and their gallant compatriots. One hundred and 
fifty men were arrayed against thousands of Mexi- 
cans under Santa Anna, the then President of 
Mexico, who styled himself the second Napoleon ; 
and heroically did they wield the battle-blade, till 
the last man of that devoted band measured his 
length upon the earth. No quarter was asked or 
given ; none were left to tell the tale but the wife 
of Dickenson and her infant daughter. How 
heart-sickening to this woman must have been that 
conflict, that massacre ! 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 1 47 

Hod. Guy Bryan said: ''I intended, Mr. 
Speaker, to be silent on this occasion ; but silence 
would now be a reproach, when to speak is a duty. 
No one has raised his voice in behalf of this 
orphan child ; several have spoken against her 
claims. I rise, sir, in behalf of no common cause. 
Liberty was its foundation, heroism and martyr- 
dom consecrated it. I speak for the orphan child 
of the Alamo. No orphan children of fallen 
patriots can send a similar petition to this House 
— none save her can say, ' I am the child of the 
Alamo.' Well do I remember the consternation 
which spread throughout the land when the sad 
tidings reached our ears that the Alamo had 
fallen ! It was here that a gallant few, the brav- 
est of the brave, threw themselves betwixt the 
enemy and the settlements, determined not to sur- 
render nor retreat. They redeemed their pledge 
with the forfeit of their lives — they fell, the chosen 
sacrifice to Texan freedom ! Texas, unapprised of 
the approach of the invaders, was sleeping in 
fancied security, when the guns of the Alamo first 
announced that the Attila of the South was near. 
Infuriated at the resistance of Travis and his noble 
band, he marshaled his whole army beneath the 
walls, and rolled wave after wave of his hosts 



148 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 

against those battlements of freedom. In vain he 
strove — the Flag of Liberty, the Lone Star of 
Texas, still streamed out upon the breeze, and 
floated proudly from the outer wall. Maddened 
and persistent, he reared his batteries, and, after 
days of furious bombardment, and repeated as- 
saults, he took a blackened and ruined mass — the 
blood-stained, walls of the Alamo. The noble, 
the martyred spirits of its gallant defenders, had 
taken their flight to another fortress, not made 
with hands. But for this stand at the Alamo, 
Texas would have been desolated to the Sabine. 
Sir, I ask this pittance ; and for whom ? For the 
only living witness, save the mother, of this awful 
tragedy; this bloodiest picture in the book of 
time; this bravest act that ever swelled the annals 
of any country. Grant the boon ! She claims it 
as the Christian child of the Alamo — baptized in 
the blood of a Travis, a Bowie, a Crockett, and a 
Bonham. To turn her away would be a shame ! 
Give her what she asks, that she may be educated 
and become a worthy child of the State ; that she 
may take that position in society to which she is 
entitled by the illustrious name of her martyred 
father — illustrious because he fell in the Alamo." 
Hon. J. C. Wilson said: "The student of 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 1 49 

Grecian history, in every age, in every land, has 
felt his bosom glow with a noble fire while reading 
of Leonidas and the three hundred who fell with 
him at Thermopylae ; but when the Alamo fell, a 
nobler than Leonidas, a more devoted band than 
the Spartans, sank amid its ruins. They shed 
their blood for us ; they poured out their lives as 
water for the liberties of Texas; and they left us 
of that bloody, yet glorious conflict, one sole 
memento — one frail, perishable keepsake — the 
child whose petition for assistance is now before 
us. Shall we turn her away? Shall we say, 
'Though your father served the State in his life; 
though he fell in the ranks of those men whose 
names history shall chronicle ajid nations shall 
delight to honor; though you alone, of all the 
children of Texas, witnessed that direful scene, 
whose bare contemplation makes the stout heart 
quail; though the credit and honor of Texas are 
alike concerned in taking care of your childhood 
and watching over your youth, in providing for 
your happiness and respectability; though you, 
the babe of the Alamo, will be an object of interest 
to all who may visit our State in after years, when 
the pen of the historian shall have recorded your 
connection with the early glories and sufferings of 



150 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 

our now happy land — yet for all this, we will 
suffer you to grow up in uncultured wildness, in 
baneful ignorance, perchance in vice, rather than 
make this pitiful appropriation to enable you to 
render yourself capable of occupying that position 
in society to which you are in a peculiar degree 
entitled by the strange and thrilling circumstances 
surrounding your life.' Sir, I trust such an act 
may not mar the history of Texas. It is related 
of Napoleon that, when an officer whom he loved 
was wounded, and, from the narrowness of the 
defile in which the conflict raged, was in imminent 
danger of being crushed to death by the feet of 
contending friends and foes, while the emperor 
looked on in deep anxiety for his fate, a female, 
an humble follower of the army, with a babe on 
one arm, pressed through the melee to the wounded 
man, and, passing her other arm around him, con- 
veyed him to a place of comparative safety near 
the emperor ; but just as she turned away from the 
object of her daring and benevolent solicitude, a 
ball struck her dead at the feet of Napoleon. He, 
taking the motherless babe in his arms, called a 
grenadier, saying, ' Bear this child to the rear, and 
see that it is well attended to, for henceforth it is 
the child of the empire.' Mr. Speaker, the child 



SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. I5I 

of the Alamo is the child of the State ^ and we can- 
not treat her with neglect without entailing ever- 
lasting disgrace upon Texas." 



EPITAPH OF THE TEXAN DEAD. 

BY B. H. DAVIS. 

No slab of pallid marble, 
With white and ghostly head, 

Tells the wanderers in our vale 
The virtues of our dead. 

The wild-flowers be their tombstone, 
And dewdrops pure and bright. 

Their epitaph, the angels wrote 
In the stillness of the night. 



Austin. 



INDEX 



PAGE. 

Arnold, Hendrick ^3 

Austin, Col. W. T 23 

Alley, Capt 29 

Army Dispensed 3^ 

Alamo, Second Mission in Texas 3" 

" , Foundation Laid 37 

" , Taking of. 40 

" , Surrounded by Mexicans 45 

" , Heroic Defence of 47 

" , Fall of 47 

" , Ashes of its Heroes Collected 49 

" , Hymn of 5^ 

" , Persons slaughtered at 59 

" , Signification of Word 7^ 

" , Ground Plan of ^ ^3 

«' , Storming of ^^4 

" , Battle Monumen' of 5^ 

" , Victims of : 59 

" , Babe of the ^6 

Aid Sought by Bonham ? • • • 44 

Appeal of Travis 39 

Almonte, Gen 45 

Account of Battle Between Mexicans and Texans 72 

(153) 



154 INDEX. 

FAGE. 

Arms Captured by Texans 72 

Architecture of San Juan. , 77 

Acceptance of Bids for Quartermaster's Depot 93 

Area of Quartermaster's Depot 94 

Adaptability of San Antonio for Manufactures no 

Anecdote of Gen. Houston 132 

Burleson, Gen 22, 30, 3 1 

Breese, Capt 24 

Bodies of Dead Patriots Burned by Order of Santa Anna. 36 

Bonham, J. B . . . ." 44 

Bowie, Col,, Butchered 47, 146, 148 

Battle Monument Described 56 

Battle Between Texans and Mexicans 72 

" at Concepcione 75 

Baths, Floating 12 

Buenstchad y Obsons 70 

Belknap, W. W 91 

Braden & Co 93 

Bishop Elliott. 103 

" Pellicier 102 

" of Monterey 38 

Baptist Church 104 

Bryan, Hon. Guy, Speech of 147 

Babe of the Alamo 146 

Caballero, Description of. 16 

Canary Islands, Emigrants from 19 

Conflicts in San Antonio 21 

Comanche Attack on San Antonio 21 

Comanche Fight at San Antonio 144 

Cooke, Capt 23, 24 



INDEX. J 55 

PAGE. 

Cooke, Col. W. G I44 

Crane, Capt 27, 28 

Cos, Gen 30, 31,44 

Convict Mexican Soldiers 30 

Commissioners Appointed 30 

Capitulation of Mexicans 31 

Council of War 43 

' ■ " Called by Santa Anna 44 

Castrillon, Gen 44 

Crockett, Col., His Fall 46, 146, 148 

Character of Old Missions 66 

Converts, Manner of Governing 66 

Church, Recruits for 69 

Capture of Arms by Texans 72 

Concepcione, Walls of. 74 

" , Service in 74 

" , Matron of 74 

, Battle at 75 

Castelo, Don Domingo 75 

Chapel in San Jose 77 

Congress Appropriates for Quartermaster's Depot 91 

Custom House at Goliad 80 

Cost of Quai-ter master's Depot 93 

Completion of Quartermaster's Depot 94 

Card, Brev. Brig. Gen. B, C 94 

Contents of Tank in Quartermaster's Depot 97 

Cisterns, Contents of in " " 97 

Churches of San Antonio loi 

Cathedral of San Fernando 102 

Catholic Church, German 102 



156 INDEX. 

PAGE. 

Convent, Ursuline 104 

Climate of San Antonio 1 1 1 

Climatology of Western Texas 122 

City of San Antonio 128 

Description of San Antonio 9 

" " " River 1 1 

" " Hackal 17 

" " Battle Monument 56 

" " Concepcione 72 

" " San Jose 75 

Distance of San Antonio from Gulf of Mexico 10 

" " " " Mexican Border 10 

Deaf Smith 22, 23, 26 

Dickinson, Capt 25 

Dickenson, Almiran 146 

Duncan, Capt ... 29 

Departure of Gen. Cos 31 

Dispersion of Texan Army 32 

Desperate Encounter in the Alamo 40 

Dickerson, Mrs 47 

Donation of Land Offered to United States by Judge Pas- 
chal, for Quartermaster's Depot 87 

Donation of Land Offered to United States by Authorities 

of San Antonio, for Quartermaster's Depot 87 

Donation recommended to Department Commander. ... 88 

Donation Not Accepted . = 90 

Davis, G. W., Capt. 14th Infantry 93 

Darn, Col. W. H 93 

Demand for Goods in San Antonio ill 

Emigrants to San Antonio. 19 



INDEX. 157 

PAGE. 

English, Capt 24, 28, 29 

Edwards, Capt 24 

Enemy Driven Back from Walls of Alamo 45 

Espada, San Francisco de 78 

Establishment of Post Office at San Antonio 85 

Enclosure of Quartermaster's Depot 98 

Elliott, Bishop of San Antonio 103 

Exile of Gen. Houston 1 34 

Epitaph of the Texan Dead 151 

Floating Baths 12 

First Emigrants to San Antonio 19 

Franks, Col. Midland 23 

Flag of Truce 30 

" " Victory over Bexar 31 

Foundation of the Alamo Laid 37 

Fannin, Col 42 

" " , Departure for Goliad 43 

" " , Shot at Goliad 81 

" " , Massacre of. 141 

Fall of the Alamo 47 

Franciscan Monks, Their Works 65 

" Friars 69 

First Mission, Location of 71 

Freeman, W. R ico 

Gulf of Mexico, Distance from San Antonio 10 

Guadalupe River 1 1 

Grant, Col. James 23 

Gill, Lieut ... 29 

Garza House 29 

Garrison of Alamo Summoned to Surrender 38 



I5S INDEX. 

PAGE. 

Goliad, or La Bahia, Mission of. 80 

" , New Town of 80 

" , Custom House at 80 

Gallagher, Peter 84 

Ground Plan of Alamo I13 

Government of Converts 66 

Hackal, Description of ■ 17 

Holmes 22 

Houston, Address to the Army 49 

" , Anecdote of 132 

" , Exile of 134 

Hymn of the Alamo 50 

Hotel des Invalides 80 

Harris, Rev. B 104, 106 

Howard, Capt 145 

Invalides, Hotel des 80 

Indians, Converted 37 

Inscription on Battle Monument T 52 

Jack, Col 22 

Johnson, Col. Frank W 23, 24, 31, 32 

" Father 70 

Jose, San, Removal of 70 

" " , Purchase of 75 

" " , Mission of 75 

" " , Description of. 75 

" " , Size of. 77 

Juan, San de Concepcione, Architecture of. 77 

" " , Mexicans About It 78 

King of Spain Transfers Land to Indians 67 

King, Z., and Son 100 



INDEX. 159 

PAGE. 

King, Capt 141, 142 

Karnes, Capt 27, 28 

Laying out of San Antonio 12 

Lopez, Father 38 

Legal Transfer of Mission Lands ,. 66 

Location of First Mission 71 

Labor In and About San Antonio 1 10 

Lockhart 144 

Mexican Border, Distance from San Antonio. 10 

Mexicans Disputing the Ground 29 

" Make a Division 29 

" Retreat to the Alamo 30 

" About San Juan de Concepcione 78 

" , Number Killed 40 

Medina River 1 1 

Mixture of Races in San Antonio 14 

Maverick 22, 23 

Morfts, Major 23 

Milam, Col, Benj, R 24 

" , Killed 28 

" " " , Poem to 32 

McDonald, Lieut. Wm 27 

Monterey, Bishop of. ^S 

Monument, Battle, Inscription on 52 

" " Description of 56 

Missions, the Old 64 

" , the Character of 66 

" Lands, Manner of Taking Possession of 66 

" Alamo 70 

" , Concepcione, Description of . . . . 72 



l6o INDEX. 

PAGE. 

Missions, San Jose '75 

" San Juan de Concepcione 77 

" San Francisco de Espada 78 

" La Bahia, or Goliad 80 

Manner of Taking Possession of Mission Lands. 66 

Matron in Charge of Concepcione 74 

Morgil, Father Antonio. , 69, 75 

Mails to and from San Antonio 86 

Military Centre of Texas, San Antonio 87 

" Depot Authorized by Secretary of War 88 

Murder of Col. Fannin at Goliad 80 

Menger House 85 

Money for Q. M. Depot Covered into Treasury 90 

Meigs, M. G., Q. M. Gen. U. S. A 93 

Montgomery, Rev. W. R 103 

Methodist Church 104 

" " South 104 

Massacre of Fannin 141 

Mukwarrah 144 

Mcl^eod, Gen. H. D 14-1 

Neill, Capt. J. C 24 

Navarro, Antonio 28 

Names of Slaughtered at Alamo 59 

" " Postmasters at San Antonio 85 

New Town of Goliad. 80 

Old Missions 64 

Oliver, S. A loi 

Organ of St. Marks 104 

Poem, " Whatever Fruits," etc lo 

" to Milam 32 



INDEX. l6l 

FAGE. 

Poem, " San Antonio My Country." 50 

" " Stern Impress of Time.''. 64 

•' San Marcos River 114 

" , Epitaph on the Texan Dead 151 

Plaza, Spanish Name of 19 

" Cleared 31 

Patton, Capt 24 

Peacock, Capt 24 

Priests' House 29 

Prisoners of War ;^^ 

Persons Slaughtered at Alamo 59 

Purchase of San Jose 75 

Post-Office Established 85 

" " Revenue of 85 

" " Money-orders 85 

Postmasters Since Establishment of 85 

Paschal, Judge, Donation to United States 87 

Proposals for Erection of Q. M. Depot Invited 92 

" " '• " Rejected 92 

" " " " Accepted 93 

Plans for Q. M. Depot Forwarded 92 

Perry, A. G 93 

Pellicier, Bishop 102 

Presbyterian Church 104 

Ouartermaster's Depot, Authority to Erect SS 

" " , Instructions as to 91 

" " , Donation for 91 

" " , Proposals Invited 92 

« " , Cost of 93 

-' " Completed 93 

II 



l62 INDEX. 

PAGK. 

Quartermaster's Depot, Location of 94 

" " , Area of 94 

" " , Description of. 94 

" " , Water-works of. 96 

" " , Tower of. 97 

'' " , Contents of Tank 97 

" " , " Cisterns 97 

" " , Water-pipes to 98 

River San Antonio, Description of 1 1, 109 

River San Marcos Poem 114 

Races, Mixture of in San Antonio . 14 

Ramney, Gen 45 

Recruits for the Church. 69 

Ribera, Gen 71 

Ruin of San Francisco de Espada 78 

Revenue of Post-Office 85 

Rejection of Proposals for Quartermaster's Depot. 92 

Richardson, Rev. W. R 103 

Reade, Capt 145 

San Antonio, Description of 9 

" , Distance from Gulf of Mexico 9 

" , Laying Out of 12 

" , How it Looks to Travelers 12 

" , Settlement of 12 

'* , Named in Honor of 12 

" , Conflict in 21 

" , Attacked by Comanches 21 

" , Captured by Texans 21 

" , Attacked by Vasquez ^2 

♦* , Captured by Gen. Wall j j 



INDEX. 163 

PAGE. 

San Antonio, My Country — Poem 50 

, Post-Office 84 

" , Mails to and from 86 

" , Quartermaster's Depot at 86 

" , Military Centre of Texas 87 

" , Water-works 99 

" " , Length of Pipes 100 

" , Pes Churches loi 

" , Its Water Power . 106 

" River 109 

'• , Adapted to Manufactures ...... no 

" , Climate of in 

" , Demand for Goods There in 

♦• , City of 1 28 

" , Comanclie Fight in 144 

" Shine 'em Up." 16 

Smith, John W 22, 

Smith, Capt 43 

San Pedro Springs 12 

Sommerville, Lieut 22 

Springs, San Pedro 12 

Swisher, Capt 24, 29 

Santa Anna 36, 38, 40, 41, 42, 45, 46, 48, 146 

Surrender Demanded by Santa Anna 41 

Skirmish Between Texans and Mexicans 42 

Sesma, Gen 43, 45 

Sally by the Texans 44 

Scaling-ladders 45 

Signilication of Alamo 70 

San Fernando Cathedral 7c. 1C2 



lfi4 INDEX. 

TAGH. 

San Jose, Title to 75 

" , Description of 76 

'* , Size of 77 

'• , Chapel in 77 

San Juan de Concepcione, in 74 

'• '• ""• , Service of 77 

" •' " , Architecture in 77 

" " " , Mexicans About it 78 

San Francisco de Espada, Mission of 78 

Sites Selected for Mission 71 

St. Mary's English Church 102 

St. Mark's Episcopal " 103 

" " " Organ 104 

Schools, Free 106 

Storming of the Alamo 1 24 

Settlement of San Antonio, 1716 19 

Spoils of the Victor * 31 

Stern Impress of Time — rPoem 64 

Speech of Hon. J. C. Wilson 148 

" " Guy Bryan , 147 

Texans Strengthen Their Works 26 

" Rifles 27 

" In Command of Enemy's Works , . . . 29 

" Losses 30 

" Dead, Epitaph of — Poem 151 

" Make a Sally 44 

Terms of Capitulation 31 

Travis, Col. Wm. B., His Small Force ^8 

" " , His Appeal 39 

" " , Writes to Fannin 42 



INDEX. 165 

PAGE. 

Travis, Col. Wm. B., His Determination 43 

, His Fall 46,146,148 

" " , "Take Care of My Little Boy.".. 44 

Terrible Struggle 40 

" Take Care of My Little Boy." 44 

Threats of Santa Anna 46 

Title of San Jose 75 

Title, Valid, to Site for Quartermaster's Depot 90 

Tank, Quartermaster's Depot 97 

Texas, Western, Climatology of 122 

Tower of Quartermaster's Depot 97 

Ugartachea, Gen 30 

United States Quartermaster's Depot 86 

Ursuline Convent 104 

Urrea, Gen 142 

Veramandi, House of 22 

Vuavis, Lieut 23 

Vasquez, Gen,, Marched on San Antonio 33 

Valero, Marquis de ^7 

Victims of the Alamo 59 

Valid Title to Quartermaster's Depot Site 90 

Ward, Capt 24 

" , Col 142 

Wall, Gen., Took San Antonio 2>^ 

'' , Commg to San Antonio iio 

War, Council of, Called by Santa Anna 40, 43, 44 

Water-works of Quartermaster's Depot 96 

Water-pipes to " " 98 

Water-works of San Antonio 99 

Water-power " 106 



l66 INDEX. 

PAGE. 

Western Texas, Climatology of 122 

Wilson, Hon. J. C, Speech of 148 

Ximenes, Battalion of 41 

York, Capt 24 

Zambrano Row 29 



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